


The long way home

by Sorscha



Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: An eventual smattering of smut (I promise), F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2019-09-28 03:26:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 53,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17174954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sorscha/pseuds/Sorscha
Summary: The Whisperers have taken a woman from a satellite community. A friend of the Kingdom and he soon discovers, a familiar face from Daryl's past. Can she be rescued? Can she rescue herself, before it's too late?Not really about the Whisperers, so don't waste your time if that's what you were looking for. This is a re-imagining of the 'Kit & Daryl' dynamic, from my previous works, set in the current timeline of the show (as they keep mucking up my previous efforts by killing off characters & jumping 6 years into the future etc. etc. - *tut).





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Home at last](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7666912) by [Sorscha](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sorscha/pseuds/Sorscha). 



> Merry Christmas to any Home at Last or Home at Last Redux fans, as well as any new readers. I hope you like this too.

It had been a straightforward enough raid on a likely looking warehouse. There wasn’t much left but enough benches and the kinds of machinery they needed, to make a basic but functioning workshop at the Kingdom. They needed so much maintenance there. There was still so much that was just starting to fall apart with constant use and hardly any proper care or repair work. The workshop would make them less reliant on the other communities.

They weren’t her people. She had no real investment in them. She’d barely met anyone from the Kingdom, preferring to keep herself to their own community and the surrounding forests, which provided most of their needs and where she found a measure of peace, now she had the chance to relax just a little. She had no objection to helping out though. They were good neighbours and had helped, rather than ignored, when they’d needed a hand over the years themselves. Or so she was told by the others.  She hadn't gone on any joint endeavours since she'd settled here, over a year ago now but when Mike and Lisa had asked her to join them this time, she was happy enough to go along.

She hadn’t wandered far from the main group when things had gone south. She didn’t know what was happening at first. She’d actually walked right up to them, thinking they were just a clutch of the dead, waiting to be put out of their misery. As she’d approached, to do the honours, she’d become vaguely aware that there was something weird about them but she’d never actually seen a Whisperer. She’d heard the stories of all the recent trouble and understood the danger but until she’d come within reaching distance herself, she hadn’t really appreciated just how effective a disguise it really was.

She’d started to defend herself as the 'dead' seemed to come to life. Opened her mouth to scream out a warning. Prayed that DJ was far enough away not to be in danger and then she’d hit the floor, as the lights went out. Struck, unseen, from behind.

She’d come around as they’d got to the cover of the trees. Hearing desperate shouting in the distance. A voice barking orders that sounded like Mike, a woman too and a boy among those screaming for her at the warehouse. At least her attack had been witnessed. It sounded like there was a pursuit in progress. The men carrying her were quiet in their urgency but she heard a whispered order to stay and take care of ‘him’.

She understood that someone must be following. That they were laying a trap. She also understood that by leaving one of their number to deal with the man gaining on their flank, they were leaving her with just three.

She waited a little longer, to get further from their friend and out of the cover of the trees, before suddenly railing and struggling in their arms. They weren’t big men and a strong, struggling woman was a problem for anyone who’d been carrying her like a dead weight for ten minutes or more, as she guessed they had been.

The struggle was enough for them to drop her to try and get better holds. A better purchase to contain her. And that was enough for her to pull her knife and start really fighting back. They were in the lea of a collection of rocks and a slashed Achilles was enough for one of them to fall and smash his skull on one nearby. Even in all the chaos, they all heard the approach of branches slashed aside and the hurry of running feet on the dry twigs that littered the woods. She assumed it was either her would-be rescuer or her oponents' grizzly compatriot. One tried to contain her, having knocked the knife from her hand, as the other turned and moved back into the trees.

It was a real fight to wriggle free from the man’s grasp but skewing his mask of dead flesh, did a marvellous job of messing up his ability to see for a second and as he righted himself, she got her chance and reached again for the knife. She sprang, finally, to her feet and had enough purchase to give him an almighty shove, towards one of the bigger rocks on the edge of the clearing. She leaped forward as he tore off his mask and plunged at his heart.

As the ‘dead’ man, really did slump heavily and lifelessly to the floor, Kit retracted her knife and stood in stunned silence and disbelieving joy at her first sight of the man who’d been pursuing them and had presumably bested her other two attackers.

"Daryl!" She breathed, barely believing her own eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick note for those who've already read Home at Last Redux. The next two chapters will seem very familiar (if not quite exactly the same) to you. Sorry about that but the characters in this story had the same first meeting as in that story (this is the same Kit), so the background chapters remain pretty much the same, with minimal framing differences.
> 
> After those two chapters everything will be new.

Ten years earlier….

Merle was a ‘character’ that’s for sure. Scott hadn’t misrepresented him in any way. He wasn’t stupid though. Kit had noticed the two ‘leaders’ dismissing him as such. She felt like they were laughing at both him and her as they introduced them, exchanging sly, knowing looks with each other as they did so. Kit wasn’t up for discrimination of any sort and was determined to reserve judgment until the poor man actually did something worthy of scorn.

They expected him to leer and exhibit some kind of lechery, or to make some dumb ‘hick’ remark about her accent. They expected her to balk at shaking hands with a man who personified the moniker ‘redneck’ that they’d just spent five minutes needlessly explaining to her in the car. For some reason, everyone she’d ever met abroad, seemed to assume that ‘British’ was just another word for posh. They were wrong to think so. From their description, most of the people she'd grown up with, or ever got along with in her whole life, would've fit in the 'redneck' category.

Kit didn’t care what anyone else thought. She looked Merle in the eye, ignored the expectations of the others and offered her hand. “Good to meet you Mr. Dixon, I’m glad you were able to help us out for this trip.”

She noted that he was mildly taken aback, as he took her hand, not to be treated like some kind of ingrate, or looked at like something she’d stepped in. He returned her firm shake and did her the courtesy of looking her back in the eye (as opposed to the direction his gaze had taken while they’d been walking over) and meeting her intelligent eyes with his own wily look of assessment and understanding. She smiled politely.

“Scott told us you were the best men for the job around here.”

“Weh-hell-now, that boy sure knows his shit, don’t he.” Merle began, seemingly thankful for the opening and more than happy to provide a barnstorming resume of his prowess and skills, for the receptive audience of the other men and women in the small party of people who’d arrived already.

As Merle progressed through his patter, Kit’s attention began to wander. Merle was far more interested in ‘bigging himself up’ to the boys than he was in impressing her. He’d be decent with her but he'd written her off already. Too smart to fall for his tall tales. Not pretty or easy enough to be worth the effort of trying to win around. That was all she wanted from the interaction and she was glad they were on the same page.

As Merle began some bullshit story, about surviving the most unlikely sounding scrape, Kit noticed another man coming over to the truck, ladened with gear, which he progressed to pack away in the tailgate.

He was younger than Merle by several years but looked just as tough a character as Merle professed to be. He had a quiet, efficient manner and didn’t seem remotely interested in his brother’s blustering or the strangers he was holding court with. He’d hardly raised his gaze at all since exiting the store.

Kit liked him on sight. He seemed like a loner. Self-sufficient. She liked that very much. She was that way herself and she appreciated it in others. Hopefully this was Merle’s brother Daryl. It would be good to have at least one person in the group that she could rely on to pay attention, do what they said they were going to and just get on with it, rather than talk constant bollocks just for the sake of it. She was usually pretty good at sizing people up on first impressions and hoped she was right about this one.

She’d tried to be subtle with her observations but as he closed the tailgate, the man looked up and straight into her assessing eyes, during one of her fleeting glances his way. She hated being embarrassed and knew that Merle would capitalise in an instant if he noticed her, looking ‘caught off guard’, staring at his brother. She used the noise of the tailgate slamming as cover for jumping in before anyone but the man himself caught her awkwardness at being startled by his blue gaze.

“Oh!” she began, stepping towards the rear of the truck “You must be Daryl?” she asked, with a friendly smile, extending her hand toward him in greeting. The others barely acknowledged her moving away. Merle was in full flow and nothing short of an attack by a wild bear would have derailed his performance, or broken up their little party, at this point.

Daryl looked a little thrown but nodded, wiped his hand on his sleeveless shirt and took the offered hand.

The hand was strong but the shake was gentle and he met her gaze briefly during the contact. Withdrawing his hand he suddenly seemed at a loss for what to do next, awkwardly shifting his weight and crossing his arms over his chest, tucking his hands protectively against their opposite sides.

“Kit, right?” he asked with a gruff rasp that sounded like the voice of a man really not that used to speaking.

“Yeah.” She responded, equally stuck for what to say next but determined to carry on regardless. “Is that all the gear?”

“Nah.” He indicated the store with his thumb “There’s another crate of supplies for your truck if you got room?”

“OK, I’ll give you a hand.” She nodded decisively, turning towards the store. “Looks like your brother and the guys have far too much to discuss to help out.” They both glanced in the direction of Merle’s little congregation and allowed themselves a derisive little shared laugh at their expense.

“Can’t tell who’s the bigger dumbass.” He exclaimed, shaking his head and leading Kit back to the store to collect the last crate. “The loudmouth spinnin’ the yarn…”

“Or the dickheads getting reeled in?” She finished the sentence for him, as they turned together towards the store, both shaking their heads.

And that was it. She had an ally, a kindred spirit on this stupid, corporate boondoggle that would be her life for the next week. Someone else, as capable as she was (if not more so) and tolerant of but in no way sucked in or impressed by, the blowhards and idiots that surrounded them.

Unlike some of the well-meaning but unintentionally patronising, or just downright openly sexist, men in the group; right from that first moment Daryl had accepted her as an equal partner. Not that he let her do all the heavy lifting but when she offered to help, or took a job voluntarily, he never argued that she should let a man do that for her. If she was willing to do it and said she could, he’d just let her get on with it.

He also listened to her point of view, at the group meetings and had an uncanny ability to, not only back her up himself, when he agreed with her but also the ability to subtly sway the others while allowing them to think their change of heart was their own idea. Machiavelli could have learned a thing or two from Daryl. Kit wasn’t even sure if he consciously knew he was doing it but whatever course of action he thought was correct, he’d somehow manage to steer the others towards it eventually. He never said much but when he did, his words carried weight. He had sway, she just wasn’t entirely sure he realised just how much.

Kit guessed that a lot of Daryl’s natural quietness stemmed from being overshadowed by his loudmouth brother, who she was sure had dragged Daryl into more than his own fair share of trouble over the years. Merle was a prolific drinker and Kit noted some tell-tale signs that he was recovering from dependence on more pervasive drug addictions. He had an addictive personality, full stop. Obviously addicted to stimulants of all varieties, including attention (good and bad) and the sound of his own voice.

Daryl didn’t share those genes. He was observant, discreet and careful in all instances, not just in the woods. He was one of the most naturally gifted huntsmen Kit had ever had the pleasure to see in action. He put her own tracking skills to shame but he didn’t brag, didn’t show up his far less skilled brother, or anyone else. He just got on with things and let his actions and his prowess speak for themselves.

He didn’t really seem to notice or value the kudos of others, especially some of the bigger idiots around them now. He didn’t look for company or conversation and barely even voluntarily spoke to his own brother, other than to discuss practical concerns.

They obviously had a strong familial bond. Daryl put up with a lot of degrading chat from his ‘schoolyard bully’ of a brother. Occasionally the mild verbal abuse would turn physical but it was always just sibling carousing. There was some kind of underlying tension between them, that Kit couldn’t quite put her finger on but Merle never pushed Daryl’s patience too far. Kit had to imagine that he knew better. He wasn’t as stupid as he looked. He knew he needed Daryl more than Daryl needed him, even if he liked to pretend, loudly, that it was the other way around.

Kit was naturally far closer to Daryl’s own temperament herself but had done her best to play well with the others. It was exhausting sometimes but ultimately made her life easier if she made an effort to be sociable. Everyone had accepted and eventually come to recognise Kit’s worth in the group but the others had come to respect Daryl much more quickly, despite his taciturn personality and the fact that he came as a package deal with his brother.

It only took a day or two for everyone in camp to realise who talked the talk and who was actually getting things done around here. When they wanted to learn, they all watched Daryl. Something Daryl himself seemed hardly aware of, although his brother noticed and visibly resented it. To his credit, Merle didn’t usually take it out on Daryl directly but the resentment lead to more drinking and a shorter fuse when he felt in any way slighted by anyone else.

As entertaining as observing the Dixon dynamics in the group was, Kit made it a policy to avoid being stuck with Merle on any excursions out of camp. Luckily her skill sets leant themselves more to teaching basic survival skills, in the camp itself and supporting hunting parties. As one of the more experienced hunters she could usually choose her own group but just wasn’t familiar enough with the area to lead. She usually stuck with Ryan, who was far less of a prat than most of the other ‘leaders’ or Daryl, when he and his brother were taking a timeout from each other, who was by far the best hunter and tracker and presented her with no stress at all.

 

\-----------

 

On day five, Kit was finishing up with her latest batch of newbie survivalists, learning the basics in a clearing near camp. As her group began to disperse back towards camp, for some free time, they came across most of Daryl’s ‘early doors’ hunting party returning with a decent haul. The man himself had stayed out apparently, as he’d picked up a deer trail and wanted to see if it would pay off. His group were already flush with the rabbits and although some of them were decent shots and not strangers to a hunt, they were far too loud and slow to be any help, so he’d sent them back without him.

Kit smiled to think of her new friend (friend? Was he that already? Would he consider her a friend or just a handy acquaintance? If he even thought of her at all?), out in the woods, doing what he did best, happy as a pig in shit. She set her group to helping skin the rabbits Daryl’s guys had caught, utilising the new skills she’d imparted to them and set off to enjoy the luxury of a little personal time of her own.

The lake was only half a mile or so from camp but it was in the complete opposite direction to where Ryan’s group had gone and everyone else had tasks to keep them occupied at camp. She’d have it all to herself and she was glad. She wasn’t a ‘girlie’ girl but even so, the chance of a private soaking and washing her hair wasn’t to be missed. Especially on a day like today; a day like every day in Georgia had been so far. It wasn’t even full summer yet but this crazy heat was already driving her nuts. She’d acclimatise, of course but it had only been a week since her plane touched down in Atlanta and she’d left the UK windy, wet and unseasonably cold…even for the UK. It would take time.

Kit smiled as she spied the water glistening through the trees. She’d only had the opportunity to escape down here alone on one other occasion so far and she was desperate for the cool water and half an hour to herself. However, as she approached the tree line she heard a light splashing. Moving forward to investigate, she found that someone else had had the same idea and beaten her to it.

He was too far out to hear her, she assumed and he had his back to the shore but Kit froze at the sight of him. She was half grumpy not to have the lake to herself, as she’d wanted and half embarrassed to have blundered in on his own private dip. Daryl was almost waist deep in the lake. Still clad in his pants and shirt but he’d left his boots, bow, the rest of his gear and a string of yet more rabbits, on the bank.

Kit still stood, frozen in place and not knowing if it was best to shout out, let him know she was there but that she’d find her own spot, or just sneak away as quietly as she could. She didn’t want to encroach on his solitude, she knew he probably valued it as much as she did and wouldn’t take kindly to company.

As she deliberated, Daryl took the option out of her hands. She hadn’t noticed what he was doing and as she looked on in horror, he undid the last button and stripped off his shirt baring his back to her in the unforgiving midday sun.

Now that she thought about it, he was the only man in camp who hadn’t gone shirtless at some point this week and now she knew why. The scars were deep and old. Marring, to her eye, an otherwise pretty damned perfect example of the male physique. This damage hadn’t been a bar fight or some kind of accident. It looked like something you might expect to find on a torture victim. However, not one of the marks was fresh enough to be from a war that Daryl might possibly have fought in and unlike his brother, he’d never mentioned any kind of military service and didn’t seem likely to have ever crossed a cartel or something ridiculous like that. The tattoo was old as well and covered the only portion of Daryl’s back that hadn’t been touched by lasting violence. That couldn’t be a coincidence.

No. Those were the marks on an adult, of an abused child. A child who’d been beaten, a child who’d been whipped. Not just a one-off either. By the looks of the evidence before her, Daryl had suffered sustained abuse and if these were the visible scars, god knows what else had been done that had left no visible marks decades later.

She couldn’t call to him now. He was so private, so closed off, so disconnected. She’d known from the start that they were somehow kindred spirits and now she understood why. Someone had broken them both as children and these half-formed adults were all they had managed to cobble together from the wreckage. He’d never have shown these scars, to someone he just met, willingly. The kindest thing she could do now was back up slowly and try to creep away unseen.

She made it to the cover of the treeline without him turning around. She’d watched, to be sure, the whole way. He was scrubbing the shirt and hopefully far too busy with that to have noticed any disturbance behind him.

Kit winced at the thought of the pain those marks represented and marveled, yet again, at the man who carried them. He was by no means soft and certainly didn’t suffer any fools gladly but where his brother was quick to anger, you really had to be actually trying to get anything but a warning bark or a withering look from Daryl. He was a good, dependable, reasonable human being. How had he managed to become a decent man with a start like that?

Kit had known kids in care with scars, both physical and mental. She’d been one of them. She knew what evil some people could inflict on their own blood and guessed that was the case here. She’d carried her own scars, of course and knew how hard it could be to push through the need for distance and safety from others. She’d combatted it by putting up a front, an act for the punters. Daryl didn’t. He was himself but he was apart and withdrawn as a result.

She didn’t think for a second that Merle was the one who’d inflicted this damage on his brother. Even in his most inebriated state he was just as incapable, as Daryl was, of that level of sustained cruelty, especially to a child. But she knew for a fact that Merle didn’t carry anything resembling these scars. He had a couple of old ‘war wounds’ here and there that he liked to parade during some of his more colourful stories but his back was unmarked by anything like this level of damage. Kit wondered obliquely if Merle even knew about these scars.

She took one last look, from the cover of the trees, as Daryl half turned towards the shore and flopped back to dunk the rest of his body and head in the water. With the wreckage of his past behind him, he was just another well-put-together guy taking a cool, refreshing dip on a hot day. He seemed care free for the first time since she’d met him. Kit smiled to herself and turned away before he surfaced again.

She found a sheltered spot further around the shore. There were no sightlines back towards Daryl’s spot and although it might be a bit steep getting back out, the rocky shore entry allowed some nice drying opportunities for her clothes.

She’d brought a clean change of underwear and planned to wash the set she was wearing while still wearing it. The cargo pants and T-Shirt she wore could be washed first and laid out on the hot rocks to dry while she took her dip. The steep rocky entry to the lake was ideal for scrubbing the dirt from her soiled clothes and she set to work and had everything set out to dry within a few minutes.

Slowly she lowered herself into the cool clear water. It actually wasn’t that cool on the surface but she’d misjudged the depth and it wasn’t far down before she felt the chill of the deeper water. It really was quite deep. She’d struggle to pull herself out at this point but it was too late now. She could swim a little further around to get out, when the time came and walk back to collect her clothes.

Kit grabbed the lovely, subtle smelling, natural soap bar from the rock by her clothes and quickly ran it over, as well as under, her underwear. Once her clothes, body and hair were well lathered up she threw the soap back to its spot and pushed away from the bank, dunking her head back to rinse her hair and scrubbing herself to rinse out her underwear.

Kit spent half an hour or more ducking and swimming, stretching her muscles in the weightless luxury of the secluded pool. Eventually she stilled and relaxed. She lay, suspended peacefully on the surface of the lake. Allowing the water to lap around her, she remained motionless and let the cares and stresses of her mind and body dissipate into the depths around her.

The sun had passed its zenith by now but she sighed with the inevitability of having to come out of her relaxed state, when she felt the first sting of her face beginning to burn in the sun. She’d just decided she’d need to move back towards the shore and reapply her sunscreen when she heard the scrape of a boot, stopped in mid-stride, on the bank.

“Awh, shit.” Daryl rumbled, as she righted herself with a splash and turned to face him. “Uhh, sorry Kit, din’ realise you were here…” his eyes wandered to the clothes laid out to dry on the bank, the towel and the underwear next to them. His eyes went wide and he coloured slightly turning away from her.

Kit had been thrown a little by the arrival but at least it was just Daryl and it wasn’t half as embarrassing a situation as he was currently imagining it was. She laughed softly and decided to put him out of his misery. There was no fun to be had in torturing a man like him, especially now she understood that he’d had more than enough of the real thing to last a lifetime.

“’s alright Daryl,” she shouted over “I’m not out here in the buff, don’t worry.”

“Oh, right. Well… good.” He half turned back to face her but stopped short of meeting her eye. “Sorry to crash the party anyway, I’ll see ya back at camp.”

“Actually!” Could she ask this of him? It seemed like a good idea the second before she opened her mouth but it WAS a bit personal. Kit dismissed the stupid doubts, as Daryl turned back to hear her out. He wouldn’t care. He probably just thought about her as ‘one of the boys’ anyway. Most guys did. She was being over-sensitive. It wouldn’t be anything to him, he’d help her out and be on his way, no harm, no foul. “I could do with your help, as you’re here. If you don’t mind?” She asked, making her way back to shore. 

He hadn’t minded, she knew he wouldn’t. He might have had a bashful moment when he’d thought he’d caught her in the buff but he was a practical guy. He’d put down his gear and she’d found the best spot, where she could get a good purchase with her foot and he could just help hoik her out.

He seemed much more comfortable with the whole idea, now she was closer and he could see that, under the surface, she was wearing a pretty formidable looking sports bra. The thing couldn’t have been less sexy, or covered much more of the top half of her torso, if it’d been a full vest. She smiled a little at the thought of her lace topped knickers but knew that they were unlikely to be seen anyway. Daryl wouldn’t look. He’d been embarrassed enough at the sight of the little pile of underwear by her clothes. He wasn’t going to ogle her close up and personal.

He reached down to take her wrist in his hand, as she held on tight to his. “On three: One..Two…Three.”

It was all over in a matter of seconds but so much happened in that instant; while conversely, practically nothing happened at all.

Both Daryl and Kit were stronger than they’d thought and Kit launched from the lake’s watery grip, much faster and easier than either of them had anticipated. Kit’s velocity was such that she had to be stopped by an immovable object. Daryl.

The impact had been light but enough to dampen his shirt again, as Kit’s body briefly pressed against his. The briefest kiss of contact but more than enough to leave its mark.

As he’d pulled her from the lake with one arm, Daryl had also, seemingly involuntarily, steadied her with the other by wrapping it around her waist. As she came to rest on her feet in front of him, she found that she was held tight in his arms, with his right hand still gripping her wrist, gently but firmly and his left cupping the back of her hip; pressed right over the lace top of her pants, gently but firmly. 

Their eyes met and held tight. A mix of shock and surprise played over both of their faces and Kit felt something squeezing her chest, as the air around her began to fizz and crackle in her ears. She felt a successive burst of electric shocks tingling through her body, radiating largely from the points where hers came into contact with his.

She was suddenly absurdly aware of every part of her body and more importantly, the proximity of every part of his. She’d never been as close to him, or anything so incredibly male, as she was right now. She could have leant forward, just an inch or two and reached up to touch his parted lips with her own. She’d never wanted anything so much in her entire life and now that the idea had crossed her mind, she could think of nothing but the prospect of those lips. Her own mouth watered instantly, at the thought of kissing him. Kissing Daryl Dixon.

All in an instant and then it was gone. The shot rang out from the direction of camp. They both broke eye contact at the same moment and turned towards the noise. The spell was broken.

 

 

\--------------

 

“Shit!” Daryl exclaimed, letting her go as he moved to collect his bag and his bow. “I’m ‘na go check it out.” He glanced back at her briefly, sweeping his eyes over her, as she wrapped herself in the towel. “Come along when you can, when you’re dressed.” He nodded, as he backed away towards the treeline. “Don’t rush,” he said “’s prob’ly nuthin’ but be safe, a’right?” he didn’t wait for her to confirm that she would be careful on her approach back to camp. His kills forgotten, he turned and ran, like a bat out of hell, towards the second shot.

Kit stared after him mutely, as she scrabbled to pull on her clothes over, still damp, underwear. "Don't rush.” He’d said. Like there was any chance of that. He was the only thing she’d felt anything for, her entire adult life and he’d just run towards gunshots. She couldn’t have stopped him but she’d be damned if she wasn’t following right on his tail.

Kit had no idea what the last few seconds of her life had signified but for the first time in her life, she really wanted to. She did know that gunshots at camp were bad though. Handguns, two different calibres by the sound of it, too close to camp for comfort. Not an organised target practice, not a hunt. Something was very wrong at camp and Daryl was running straight towards it. She grabbed his rabbits as an afterthought, less than two minutes in his wake.

 

\--------------

 

Chaos, that’s what Merle Dixon was. His mouth was poison and for a smart man he could be really fucking dumb about who he decided to pick on. Kit didn’t ever get the full story but she doubted it would have made much logical sense anyway. She’d arrived to find people scattered about in small groups. One group of women comforting Chrissy, another taking care of Martin’s nose, a third helping Craig decide if his wrist was sprained or broken and Merle being forcibly restrained by two men plus his brother.

He was STILL fighting, still raging about something. The men were struggling to hold him. He was high as a kite and he was going to break free. The men looked wildly at Daryl for some clue how to handle this. He hung his head, gestured for them to hold on. Stepped back to remove his pack and bow and launched back at his brother with a punch that could have knocked out a horse. Merle was out like a light and slumped to the ground in the grateful men’s arms, as Daryl shook out his hand.  

The conflab that followed had only one possible outcome. Everyone was sorry to see Daryl go too but they understood that he had to take care of his kin. Get his drunk, drugged up brother home and try to dry him out.

Kit saw pity in some of their eyes. Daryl saw it too and didn’t like it one bit. It made him prickly, shifty on his feet. He didn’t like meeting people’s eyes at the best of times but this was just painful to watch. If he could have teleported them both out of there right away he would have but as it was he needed help to pack up their stuff quickly and get his brother and their gear in their truck before Merle regained consciousness.

Ryan had hurried back with his group at the sound of the shots and set his guys to collect the Dixons’ stuff together, while he, Nick, Jimmy and Daryl dragged Merle’s unconscious carcass two hundred metres, to the dirt road where the cars were parked up. Daryl hogtied his bonehead brother on the back seat, as the others went back to help carry their stuff.

Kit settled some of the group down to easy tasks, to take their minds off what was going on. Some of the other men involved in the incident had apparently not been entirely blameless either, so there would be further discussions once the Dixons were gone and the trip might need to be cut short for some. Kit didn’t care. Didn’t give a shit about any of it.

She carried the Dixon brothers’ tent bag and Daryl’s line of rabbits to the truck in the last group. Everyone said their goodbyes to Daryl, shook his hand, thanked him for this, or that.

As angry, snorting, grumbling noises began to drift from the back of the truck, everyone began to hang their heads and drift away, back to camp.

Kit hung back to say her own goodbye. The only problem was, she didn’t know where to start. Merle helped out; filling the silence between them with one of the most profane collections of curses she’d ever heard in her life. Daryl looked around and shook his head in the direction of the truck. Turning back to face her, he looked mortified and defeated.

“’M sorry bout…” he gestured obliquely in the direction of the source of his disgust. “He can’t help himself sometimes.” Kit dared him to look at her, stepping forward and looking right into his face. He looked up to meet her eye “I know,” he said, “Ain’t no excuse. If he were a dog they’d shoot him.” The laugh was hollow, the eyes were weary.

“It’s not your responsibility to make excuses for him Daryl, he’s not a kid.”

“That you little brother?” Yelled Merle, “I tell you this; I’m n’a beat your ass into the goddamn ground when I get free.”

The sounds of Merle’s struggling and the slight rocking of the truck made them both smile. At least something about this whole situation was half-way funny.

“You’ve made some good contacts here Daryl.” Kit threw in, out of the blue. His head snapped around, at her words. “People have seen what you can do. You ever want work like this again you get in touch with Scott. I’ll make sure everyone gives you a glowing report.” She couldn’t tell if he was happy with that or not, his eyes seemed to be boring into her soul, she looked away, gesturing towards the truck. “I think you’ll have to leave your brother at home next time though.”

“That the prissy little limey bitch?” Merle shouted from the truck “Mmmmm – I like her.” He murmered, hazily. “You sly motherfucker!” He suddenly bellowed, with an amused tone. “Boy, you been stickin’ it to that nice piece o’ ass? Maaaaan, that girl got tits on her, just won’t quit.”

“Shut the fuck up Merle,” Daryl exploded with embarrassment. “‘fore I come over there ‘n gag ya dumb fuckin’ mouth.” It was the loudest and most violent outburst Kit had seen from him so far, including the punch. As he calmed down he stiffened, crossed his arms defensively over his chest, visibly horrified that Kit had had to endure his brother’s words and his own response to it but not knowing what to do about it. She wondered how many times Daryl had had to deal with exactly this kind of humiliating shit. No wonder he kept away from most of the women in camp and showed zero sign of any interest in any of them, even from a safe distance. Any sign of interest would be met, by Merle, with exactly this kind of taunting abuse for both parties.

As his brother continued to cackle his amusement from the truck. Daryl briefly raised his eyes to her and shook his head in apology. He just didn’t have the words. She understood. She took another step towards him and lowered her voice.

“He’s just going to carry on holding you back Daryl. I know he’s your brother and I know you feel like you have to look after him but you don’t have to be brought down too.” He met her gaze at last. “You’re better than that.”

She saw him bristle, getting ready to defend his idiot brother. “Oh I know,” she held up a conciliatory hand. “He’s not stupid, not some dumb ‘redneck’ but he’s a mess. He needs to get off the booze and the drugs and pull his head out of his backside and get his shit together.” They were two feet apart now, she could have reached out and touched him and it was a surprise to herself that that’s exactly what she wanted to do. “As he is, he’s just a destructive whirlwind of chaos and it’s not just him he’s hurting. You want to look after him, I get that but you don’t have to let him destroy your chances too Daryl.”

He shook his head lightly. Couldn’t see a way out of the cycle. “You’re worth twenty Merle’s out here. We all saw it. He needs you but you don’t need him.” He wouldn’t look at her directly but she saw him close his eyes at that. Accepting the truth of her words.

“The way he is now; he’s nothing but poison to you. Please remember that. Remember that whatever he says, whatever shit he tells you about how useless you are and how you wouldn’t last five minutes without him, it’s fucking horse-shit and there are thirty-plus people in this camp that will testify to that fact and about half a dozen of them actually know what they’re talking about.” He almost laughed at that. “Scott will hook you up with a group any time you’re willing to go out without Merle. Please remember that Daryl – you do have options.”

Rant over, Kit didn’t know what else to say or do. She desperately wanted a time machine. Wanted the TARDIS to swoop in and whisk her back an hour or so. Wanted to be back in his arms, at the lake. Wanted that moment, that almost-kiss, more than anything in the world.

“You sure gone quiet out there!” came Merle’s sing-song contribution to the conversation. “She suckin’ y’off t’say g’bye or somethin’?” Kit closed her eyes and Daryl groaned in despair. “’cause if y’up fer sharin’ I might be willin’ t’overlook THIS shit some.”

“Better get goin’,” Daryl grumbled, “It’s only gonna get worse.” He turned towards the truck, then thinking better of it span back on his heels. “Thanks.” He nodded. “I’ll think about it. Maybe call Scott, when I get him settled.”

“You considerin’ it at least?” Merle asked. “Old Merle got some use for that pretty mouth.”

“Promise?” She asked, ignoring Merle and reaching out to touch his arm imploringly, before he could go. He didn’t flinch.

“Hey! You ignorin’ me out there?”

He didn’t look away this time as he caught her eye. “Yeah, promise.” He smiled a little half-formed smile. The most beautiful thing she’d seen all week. Then she saw a thought crash across his mind, as his features froze on his face. “You goin’ home after this?” he asked “I mean, I guess this is goodbye?”

“That’s just rude li’l brother.” Merle complained. “Ignorin’ yer elders.”

“I have a course in Texas next.” Kit answered, noting a hint of sadness in his eyes. “The start date wasn’t set yet when I got here but it should be in the next couple of weeks. Got another group going out here after that, other side of the hills.” Daryl nodded, looking a little more positive.

“Good country.” He commented.

“I bet we could use a good hunter with some local knowledge?” she smiled and angled her head a little, teasingly. “If you’re interested, call Scott. I’ll give him a number you can reach me on too… if you like. We could meet up somewhere and talk about it before the trip. I’ll have a couple of free days here before we go out. Plenty of time for a catch up.”

Kit’s heart leapt as he smiled at her again and nodded before turning back to the truck. “Sounds good.” He said as he turned.

“Oh, you remembered me huh? Finished up with her majesty… you got time for your kin now?” Even Merle couldn’t dampen Kit’s spirits, as the confidence she’d heard in Daryl’s last words to her sunk in.

She stopped his progress briefly, to pass the rabbits through the open driver’s window and caught sight of Merle trussed up like a chicken on the back seat. She smiled warmly at each of them in turn, stood back and waved them off from the verge, hoping like hell that she’d see Daryl again in two weeks.

“Please tell me you tapped that, or I swear to fuckin’ Christ you ain’t no brother o’ mine!” she heard Merle bark, at his long-suffering brother, as they drove off.

 

\---------

 

Later that night, Kit found herself once again, for the millionth time that afternoon, staring blankly into space and wondering where Daryl was now. Hoping that he’d managed to deal with Merle without further violence to himself.

“Chrissy’s calmed down some.” Donna commented, joining Kit by the fire. “That coffee?”

“Tea.” She replied, shaking herself out of it. “There’s coffee in the pot.”

“You OK?” Donna asked, sitting in the camp chair next to her.

“Me?” Kit looked up in surprise at the other woman, who she shared a tent with and had come to regard as a good companion in the past few days. “Of course, nothing happened to me, why wouldn’t I be?” It hadn’t really been a question but Donna took it on face value.

“Thought you might be upset, you know, with what happened.”

“No, it’s just playground stuff at adult level isn’t it.”

“Oh yeah, well the thing with Merle, yeah, sure.” She shrugged “I meant Daryl.”

Kit looked over confused. “Daryl? What did he do?”

“Nothin’ I don’t wish I’d done first.” She laughed. “But he left.”

“Didn’t have much choice in that did he?”

“No but he was a nice guy. Decent. Not like his boneheaded, Neanderthal brother.” Kit nodded, she couldn’t disagree with that and it didn’t surprise her that Donna had noticed too. She was there to keep the plates spinning in camp and part of that was being a shrewd judge of character. “And you like him.”

Kit almost spat out her tea. “Wh…what?”

Donna laughed. “Don’t come the innocent with me girlie. You’re not exactly an open book – in that sense I guess you two are a perfect match – but anyone with eyes could see you two tip-toeing around some pretty explosive chemistry there hon.”

Kit became suddenly fascinated by her tea, as she tried to get her head around this conversation.

“Did you do anything about it?” Donna asked. “I sure hope so, ‘cause girl… that boy was fine!”

Donna’s tone forced Kit to laugh at her assessment and the other woman took it as encouragement.

“Well did you?... Enquiring minds need to know.”

“No.” Kit responded with a half-smile at her persistence. “We were just friendly.” She admitted. “I liked him. He was…. real.”

“Real fuckin’ hot is what that man is.” Donna grumbled, shaking her head. “Hottest part is he don’t know it. What a waste.”

Donna caught the shy blush creeping over Kit’s face. She’d gotten pretty good at masking her feelings but tonight her guard was having a nap apparently.

“He was a funny fish though. Acting like he didn’t care but any fool could see you two fit like a hand in a glove…. Think maybe he was trying not to let his brother see that he liked you.” She nodded, taking a sip of coffee. “Cute AND smart…. The full package.” She mused.

“Honestly Donna, we were just friends.”

“Naaah, you were ‘behaving friendly’. Don’t mean you were ‘just friends’. That boy LIKED you, and you LIKED him. Don’t give me no ‘friends’ bull shit. I ain’t buyin’.”

Kit shook her head “Doesn’t matter anyway, they’re gone.”

“You give him your number?”

“Don’t have one yet.” She blurted, without thinking.  “I…er….no, I.. I told him how to reach me when we finish up here.” She admitted. “I thought there might be a spot for him on that trip next month.” She offered as an excuse.

“Then you better tell me too sweetheart ‘cause I wanna hear what happens next and I’m tellin’ you, that fine slice o’ ass ain’t done with you yet.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thought I'd pop this up early as it's another re-used chapter.
> 
> This is the last 'retread' chapter (recycled but differing slightly from Home at Last Redux's version) I promise. 
> 
> Everything after here will be new.

Back at the house, Daryl decided that the best option was just to loosen Merle’s bonds enough, so he’d be able to free himself in a few minutes and just leave him to it for a while. He’d eventually shut his hole and stopped grousing long enough for the ride back to lull him off to sleep. He’d wake up, find himself alone in the truck, in the garage and free himself. He’d rail and roar and throw some shit around for a while but he’d quieten down once the drugs wore off, whatever the hell they were and then Daryl would let him out.

He’d figured the garage was the safest place for Merle to wear himself out and cool off. He was just about stupid enough to wreck the house, even worse than they had between them already, if he was let loose in there right now. At the moment the place looked like it was inhabited by some pretty feral beasts, that were far from house proud and Daryl had to admit that it pretty much was. What cleaning got done, got done very occasionally and mostly by Daryl, although Merle had a real hard-on for making his bed, like he’d just got out of boot camp yesterday. Still, they had a remote chance of getting their security deposit back, when they moved on, as it stood. No chance of that if Merle really went to town on the place.

There wasn’t much Merle could really damage in the garage, except the truck and himself. The truck was technically his, so it was his lookout if he wrecked that. Daryl knew that he wouldn’t hurt himself. Not in any permanent, physical way anyway. He was destructive and his behaviour was self-destructive. Even Daryl had to recognise that these days. But Merle wasn’t a self-harmer, not in any direct sense. He’d never learned to internalise his pain and anger the way Daryl had… and did… sometimes. If he was gonna hurt anyone, it wasn’t gonna be Merle.

Daryl tried to ignore his brother, battering against the door at his back, as he sat on the uneven planks of the rough porch to try to enjoy the sunset. Oranges and reds and hazy whisps of dark blue, burning together on the horizon. He felt an ache in his heart and knew that he was missing something fierce. It took him by surprise to realise that it was Kit. Kit that he wished was sat next to him, silently sharing the sunset. Kit that he wanted to see, wanted to talk to, wanted to listen to. He thought back, trying to pin point where it was in the last few days, that she’d become so indispensable to him.

\--------------

“It’s a fuckin’ waste of time, is what it is.” Merle groused from the passenger seat. “They’re gon’ be a bunch o’ useless city folks, need their butts wiped out there mos’ prob’ly.”

Daryl remained quiet. Usually the best course of action with Merle. He’d work himself through the logic in time. No point helping him out with that, it’d just throw him off.

“And you know who’s gon’ be doin’ the wipin’ huh?” He didn’t wait for a response. “Us, that’s who.” He gesticulated wildly between himself and his brother to make his point. “Dumb asses gon’ be a liability out there.”

They were getting close to the store now and Merle began working himself up to meeting the rest of the group. It had been his drunken chat with the ‘adventure group’s’ local scout that had started all this in the first place and he’d been interested because it would pay and pay damned well. He’d remember that presently.

When Daryl had returned from the bathroom to find his brother listing off their combined skills, he’d reluctantly joined the conversation. The guy seemed OK and the work sounded far less like work than most of the jobs he’d taken in the past few years. Merle needed something to take his mind off the drugs and having used every dime Daryl had earned, during Merle’s last stint in the pen, to pay for his rehab after his release, they both needed the injection of cash.

Daryl wasn’t too keen on the whole idea himself. Always happier in his own company, or at most, in the company of a few old faces he’d gotten used to through years of acquaintance, he didn’t relish the idea of being stuck with a whole bunch of new faces. Strangers were strangers, whoever they were. He’d learned to hide it well, as he’d never get any kind of understanding or accommodation for it from Merle or his friends but Daryl was often crippled with anxiety, whenever he was thrown out of his comfort zone. He knew he made a gruff and prickly first impression because of it but there was really nothing he could do about that. He’d suck it up, as he’d had to suck up so much else in his life but he didn’t have to look forward to it. It just needed to be done.

When they parked up, Daryl had seen the little convoy coming and left Merle at the truck, to deal with the hand shaking and small talk; while he disappeared into the store to collect the next load of supplies and take his damn time working himself up to coming back out again. It hadn’t surprised him in the slightest to find Merle in the middle of one of his favourite lines of bullshit when he came out. Sucking all attention out of any room was definitely more his thing.

The woman had surprised him though. He’d looked up from his task, right into her inquisitive eyes. She stepped forward immediately, offering her hand and seeming genuinely open to wanting to get out of there and help out with the supplies. She was obviously pretty quick. She’d got a handle on Merle right off and seemed to find her own companions equally full of shit, so Daryl found it hard to take her assessment of Merle personally. He hoped she hadn’t jumped to any quick conclusions about him. He knew any first impression he made couldn’t be particularly good but he found himself actually wanting to make a decent one on her. Wanting her to like him.

He’d liked her on sight. Even more so when she opened her mouth. Whenever Daryl wasn’t out in the woods, working his ass off somewhere for a buck or getting dragged around bars or dealers’ with his brother, he was always to be found sat on his ass watching TV.

He’d never been much good at school but he found it much easier to take stuff in from TV shows. He liked old films, game shows and comedies, like everyone else but he loved nature documentaries and history best. PBS was his go-to channel and some of his favourites had always been those BBC shows and documentaries on constant repeat.

Their mom’s brother Kyle had served overseas for a while in the 80s. His absence, in the wake of the fire had left his nephews at the mercy of their father, as he descended to his worst possible self but he’d never lost touch entirely. He’d returned home after four years and brought home a treasure trove of tapes for his history, science and nature-loving nephew. Finding Merle long-gone and Daryl living in constant fear of violence at the hands of his own father, uncle Kyle had also brought a level of protection and control, which had more than likely saved Daryl’s life.

Daryl might never go to the jungles of Borneo or the Amazon himself, but David Attenborough had taken him along for the ride. Some crazy lookin’ old white haired guy, with a fuckin’ monocle, had taught him about the stars he often used to navigate by and an entire cast of British actors had played out most every interesting point in history and every Shakespeare play in his own front room. They’d also pointed out the ridiculousness of a lot of that history, as well as society in general and helped him learn to laugh at what he couldn’t change.

She didn’t sound like David Attenborough, or the crazy looking monocle guy but she was sure as shit from their neck of the woods. She might honestly be the most exotic thing he’d ever come across in real life and the thing that he liked most was that she was just like him. Didn’t appreciate no bull shit, sharp as a tack, kept her own council and didn’t mind getting her hands dirty. What wasn’t to like? 

She wasn’t too hard on the eye either and that might be a problem. Merle often got the mistaken impression that any woman alive would welcome some attention, if he graced her with it. He wouldn’t be likely to waste much time sounding Kit out and if she threw him over, like Daryl figured she almost certainly would, then she’d be in for some hard looks and some not-so-subtle insults.

Daryl was surprised to find that, after a full day in her company, Merle hadn’t made a move in her direction. He’d seen his brother eyeing up the other women, like meat at the market but he hadn’t thrown an appraising glance at Kit yet.

Not that he’d seen anyway. Maybe it’d already happened? Maybe before Daryl had come out with the supplies? Seemed unlikely though. Merle was being civil with her, polite even. Maybe the accent was throwing him off his game, or maybe he just knew he didn’t have a shot and wasn’t gonna try? That wouldn’t have stopped him before but Daryl had never seen Merle off the drugs for longer than a week before. Maybe a month on the wagon had made him a little smarter.

\--------------

“You see that Chrissy’s ass in them little shorts?” Merle asked as he climbed into his sleeping bag that night. “Mmmm mmm, man I had to take myself off for a little walk in the woods after that show.”

“Mmmm hmmm.” Daryl replied, knowing that his brother required some kind of answer but not wanting to encourage a whole discussion about it.

“I know you ain’t gon’ queer ma patch li’l brother but just so you know, if that girl’s up for somethin’ this week, it’s gon’ be with old Merle. You get me?”

“Yeah.”

“That Tanya’s a nice piece o’ ass too, ‘course.” Merle rumbled on. “An’ that prissy little limey bitch got a lot goin’ on up front. Them nice titties and that pretty mouth o’ hers an’ all.”

Daryl stiffened at the mention of Kit. He hated the thought of his brother cataloguing her ‘assets’, in his shopping list of female attributes on offer in camp but he knew he couldn’t say a word. He couldn’t defend any of these women against his brother. Couldn’t insist on any kind of respectful talk or the game would be on. Every time Daryl showed any kind of interest in anything or anyone that wasn’t Merle, or at least in Merle’s interest, he might as well be painting a huge target on whatever or whoever it was. Taking Daryl’s things and ruining them for him was one of Merle’s favourite games and Daryl had long since learned how not to give him an ‘in’.

Merle was all kinds of asshole but he wouldn’t push his luck with any of these women, not physically anyway. The most they’d get was a clumsy pass and an endless round of insults and insinuations when they knocked him back. Any sign of favouritism from Daryl would add fuel to Merle’s fire and put that woman at the top of his brother’s shopping list. He’d been careful not to single out Kit for any ‘special attention’ all day and would continue to show no particular interest in her, whenever Merle was around. It was best for all concerned.

“Plenty o’ nice pussy around, that’s for sure.” Merle continued. “You even listenin’ t’me ya little shit?” He grumbled. “Might as well o’ brought a plank of wood along with me on this thing. It’d show more interest in the skirt for sure.”

“You do what you want Merle, knock yourself out. Ain’t no skin off my nose.” Daryl replied. “None o’ those ladies gon’ look twice at ya though, just so ya know.” Daryl turned over, facing the tent wall and hoping for the end of this conversation.

“Hah! Ladies! …. Any one of ‘em be happy after five minutes o’ droppin’ their panties with old Merle li’l brother, don’t you worry ‘bout that. I know how to satisfy a woman.” He assured, “Ain’t like you know nothin’ about pussy anyhow. Just ‘cause y’all don’t got nothin’ goin’ on for your own self, don’t go thinkin’ I’m gonna live like no monk.”

‘Here we go.’ Thought Daryl.

“You even got a set of balls li’l brother? ‘cause I ain’t seen no evidence since I got out and not much evidence even before. I mean I KNOW you ain’t no virgin an’ all, old Merle took care o’ that for ya long time ago but I don’t know that if I hadn’t you EVER would have you know?”

Daryl ignored Merle’s rant.

“Nothin’….. nothin’ at all? No defense? No “What you try’na say Merle?” no “I ain’t fuckin’ queer if that’s what yer thinkin’ brother!”, no “You know right well I fucked that Sally an’ that Kerry an’ so on”, just nothin’ from Daryl on the subject.”

Daryl knew better than to answer.

“Alright, well I guess I didn’t need to worry about competition from you anyway, you ain’t no Brad Pitt or nothin’. But if you ain’t interested in chasin’ pussy then I really ain’t got no trouble. Not like any of these city nancy-boys got anythin’ t’ offer a woman. Woman needs a real man, ain’t no real woman goin’ for nothin’ short o’ a Merle in this camp.”

And thank god, that was Merle’s last word on the subject for that night.        

______________

Daryl spent the next few days doing what he’d been hired to and trying to keep Merle out of trouble. The work was easier than he’d expected. He’d expected people not to listen to him or respect his rules out in the woods but he found most of the guides to be respectful and happy to defer to him when he lead a hunt. The punters were pretty useless, as expected but they paid attention and didn’t tend to annoy him as much as he’d thought they would.

Keeping Merle out of trouble was a tougher prospect. He’d made a few contentious remarks among the other guides and he’d made a few comments among the punters that had been close to the knuckle and lost him some serious points. The ladies, who might initially have found him vaguely charming in an old fashioned, southern caveman kind of way, were now actively avoiding being stuck on their own with him. And Merle was starting to notice.

Resentment was always Merle’s worst enemy. He couldn’t stand thinking that anyone had the upper hand or thought themselves better than him. It ate away at him and made him supremely prickly and tough to deal with. He was better off the drugs than he had been on them and Daryl could see him trying to hold it together but it was a fine line.

Daryl was also painfully aware that there were drugs in camp. He’d thought it would be the best possible place to take his recovering brother. Middle of fucking nowhere, with a bunch of office-dwellers – ideal.

No, apparently not. It was clear to Daryl that two of the guys were tweakers. High functioning, obviously. They had their shit together and could apparently handle what they were using. Some people could. But he knew that if he’d spotted a couple of coke heads in the group then Merle had too. The fact that Merle had said nothing about it worried Daryl to distraction.

He made sure that those guys were never in the same group as Merle. By hook or by crook, he’d do his best to keep them apart but really that’s all he could do. If Merle wanted something bad enough, there was nothing he’d be able to do to stop him getting it.

On the one hand, Daryl wished that one of the women would just let him flirt with her a bit or something, to take Merle’s mind off it but on the other, he knew damn well that not one of those women would be capable of taking his shit with a smile for long. He’d overstep at some point, he always did and then all hell would probably break loose.

The only woman in camp who seemed to ‘get’ and be able to deal with Merle, was Kit but Daryl was still surprised to find that Merle wasn’t sniffing around her much. Whenever he spoke to her he seemed friendly, sometimes a little cheeky but to Daryl’s surprise, vaguely respectful and not in any way like the creepy-assed sexual predator he could sometimes resemble.

It helped that she’d kept right out of his way most of the time, right from the start. It didn’t take Daryl long to realise that he only found her accompanying his hunting parties when his brother was safely occupied somewhere else entirely. She was only ever in Merle’s company in the evenings, surrounded by the rest of the camp, or at breakfast, surrounded by the rest of camp.

On day three, Daryl came back buoyed by a good day’s work. He’d taken a small hunting party out first thing and stalked a deer for miles through the forest. The stag had been one of the biggest he’d ever bagged, a buck ninety at least and the group had been a perfect mix and done exactly as he’d asked. It had been a dream morning.

The others had hung back to let the experts take the deer down at the end but Kit had been a perfect partner out there. She was obviously hugely experienced, stalking in perfect silence by his side. She had her own bow and was a skilled archer. They’d both taken a shot and both hit their target. The deer had gone down quickly, with minimal suffering. Daryl couldn’t have asked for more.

For the long walk back to camp they’d cobbled together a makeshift carrying pole and taken turns to lug the animal over the uneven ground. The four punters had insisted on taking turns on carrying the deer, while Kit and Daryl carried the bulk of the gear and lead the way back to camp. The four newbie hunters were chattering happily behind, as Kit and Daryl walked back, for the most part, in comfortable, companionable silence. When they did exchange words, the conversation came easily and was unforced and un-stressful. Of all the people in camp, of all the people he’d met in his life – ever – she was by far the most comfortable to be with and the most interesting to talk to, with the possible exceptions of his mom and his uncle Kyle.

As camp came into view, Daryl was almost sad that this perfect morning, this precious time in her company, was at an end. With a heavy heart, he subtly hung back, during the last few moments, joining the larger group and the strung-up stag, letting Kit lead the group in on her own. He couldn’t afford to let Merle see him comfortable, friendly, happy, with Kit.

\---------------

“That was a nice bit o’ venison there li’l brother.” Merle said, slapping Daryl on the back. “Miracle you managed that with these ‘fairy elephants’ taggin’ along out there.” He added, pulling back the tent flap and flopping down on his sleeping bag.

“They were a pretty good bunch today.” Daryl replied.

“That so?” Merle sounded surprised. “Well, I guess that Kit know’s her stuff at least, by all reports, enough not to get in yer way when you went for the kill huh?”

“She got a shot in too. She’s the real deal.” Daryl winced to himself as he zipped up the fly screen, praying that he hadn’t said too much, sounded too complimentary.

“Hmm, that so?” Merle responded, not sounding too interested, luckily. “Well, thank Christ some o’ these assholes know their ass from their elbows I guess.”

Daryl flopped down on his own bed and began to unlace his boots. “Mmmm hmmm.” He agreed.

“She’s sure as shit one o’ the more useful ones in this place, that’s for damn sure.” Merle mused, absentmindedly as Daryl’s anxiety built. “Ain’t bad to look at neither but I don’t know ‘bout her.”

Daryl’s head snapped up involuntarily but luckily his brother didn’t seem to have caught the movement. “Can’t say for sure what it is. Somethin’s off. I can usually tell a dyke. Don’t know that it’s that. Just don’t have no feelin’ fer her you know?” Merle struggled to express what he meant. “It’s like, I can see all the candy laid out in the winder an’ I appreciate the look o’ the merchandise an’ all but I ain’t got no sweet tooth for it.”

Daryl had never been so relieved about anything for as long as he could remember.

“I mean, if it came to it I’d fuck ‘er. ‘course I would.” He added as a disgusting afterthought. “She’s a good lookin’ girl. I could definitely do her if I had to.”

Daryl closed his eyes and turned away to face the tent wall in silence.

“Don’ know why I’m tellin’ you.” Merle grumbled, making himself comfortable. “Might as well talk to the trees. They get a damn sight more wood lookin’ at the pussy in this camp than you do.”

Silence.

“Think I’m ‘na start workin’ on that Chrissy, think she might like a bit o’ old Merle.” He mumbled. “Bet I know which bit too.” He added with a chuckle, drifting off to sleep.

Daryl smiled to himself. He’d still have to be careful around Kit but hopefully this meant that at least he didn’t have to worry about Merle embarrassing himself and Daryl by making a pass at her and making her uncomfortable around them both. He liked her. He’d consider her a friend. Maybe even the first friend he’d ever actually chosen and made himself. Last thing he wanted was Merle bulldozing it with his big dumb mouth.

\------------

On day five Daryl’s hunting party was another decent mix. No Kit this time though. Merle had been supposed to be accompanying his group this morning and Kit had volunteered to cover a lesson in the basics back at camp, presumably to avoid Merle.

As it had turned out, Merle was on his period or something and didn’t want to join in, when they set out at first light. Daryl had left him still tucked up in bed, grousing about something or other. Daryl didn’t know what bug had crawled up his ass. Merle had come to bed late the previous night and hadn’t felt like sharing this morning. Whatever it was, Daryl could guarantee he’d find out later. Merle wasn’t one to keep anything to himself for long.

The rabbits had been jumping this morning, that’s for sure and his group had been happy with their haul. He’d spotted a trail and told them to head back without him. He knew the trail was old and it’d more than likely peter out to nothing but he just needed the excuse more than anything. Needed some time on his own.

Time alone was the one thing he craved most, these past few days and it was the one thing it was hardest to come by. He snagged a few more rabbits and headed for the lake. He was thinking to throw out a line for a bit but as he got nearer he realised that the rabbit over his shoulder had bled out a little on his shirt. As good an excuse as any, he decided he needed a bath anyway and stripped off his gear and boots to wade out and scrub some of the blood from his shirt.

As he reached waist depth, the cool waters stilled his mind and gave him a perfect moment of peace. He smiled in wonder as he found himself wishing that Kit was here. Shaking off the strange thought, he yanked off his shirt and scrubbed at the stain.

He had the strangest sensation of being watched but he knew the other hunting party was on the other side of camp, everyone back in camp was occupied for the morning, except a few of the punters with free time and maybe Merle.

Much as he knew his brother fancied himself a hunter, he also knew there was no-one quiet and capable enough to sneak up on him. He’d hear any one of them, including Merle, coming from two hundred yards away. It was probably the damned deer, he thought to himself with an amused laugh, as he flopped back to dunk the rest of his body in the cool water.

\--------------------

It didn’t take Daryl long to dry off, as he threw out a line on the little boat jetty near his bathing spot. He wasn’t wearing underwear, so it was just a case of waiting for his pants and shirt to dry against his skin.

The rabbits may have been jumping today but the fish sure as shit weren’t. He didn’t care, it was nice to just chill out, if that was the right phrase for this searing heat. He gave up the ghost and collected his gear together, making his way along the bank to find his favourite route back towards camp.

Reaching the rockier part of the shoreline, Daryl rounded a corner and stopped dead in his tracks. Kit.

She was twenty feet out and hearing his approach, was already aware of his presence and turning to face him. He hadn’t seen anything more than her head and the vague shape of her body, close to the surface but he’d known it was her instantly. Who else would be out here on their own? None of the girlie-girls back at camp, that’s for damn sure. They only seemed capable of going anywhere in pairs.

Spying her clothes on the rocks, he’d immediately made his apologies and turned to leave. He wasn’t no peeping Tom and he didn’t want her thinking he was. He liked her too much to ruin it with her thinking he was trying to take advantage of her or something of the sort. When she’d called him back and asked for his help, he was happy to oblige. It showed that she had accepted his presence for the accident it was and that she still trusted him as a colleague and maybe a friend(?).

As she swam closer, he began to regret offering to help though. Although he hated himself for it, he could almost hear Merle whispering filth in his ear. In just a few seconds, she’d be inches from him and wearing a soaking wet, skin tight set of underwear. She did possess an epic rack for a small framed woman and Daryl found it difficult to put the idea and the image of her, half naked and slick with water, to the back of his mind.

He had always tried to be a better man than his brother, as far as shit like this was concerned. Tried not to make up stupid fantasies in his head about girls he knew. Tried not to fantasise about unlikely scenarios where they might want him back, despite knowing for a fact that they just thought of him as trash. But he found that when it came to Kit, he just couldn’t ignore the messages from the ‘dick’ part of his brain, as he could when it came to Chrissy or Tanya or literally any other woman he’d met – ever.

Shaking himself out of his stupid fantasy, he reached for her hand and on three, he’d pulled her out. The plan had been to let go immediately, pick up his stuff and go, saying his goodbyes as he walked away, with his back turned to her. He didn’t want to see her in her skivvies, didn’t want to think of her that way. The way Merle might. Like a thing to be looked at, ogled, used for his pleasure.

It hadn’t gone like that at all. Her body had made contact with his. Somehow his hand had ended up resting on her hip, the lace of her panties delicate under his electrified fingers. Their eyes had locked and held and Daryl had no idea what was happening between them but he knew that he wanted more from her than friendship right now. He wanted those gorgeous, full, juicy lips. The breath stalled in his chest as he felt himself drowning in her eyes.

Only a gunshot could have torn him from her, in that moment and it did. Daryl had run but not before sweeping his gaze over her body, as he backed out of the clearing. He’d kicked himself for that mentally, the second he’d done it but nothing on earth could ever remove the image now seared into his brain.

Despite his warning to be careful, he’d seen her barreling into camp just minutes after him, still dripping from the lake. It was her presence that had made him decide he couldn’t risk Merle getting loose. After the punch, things got calmer but they had to leave. There was no way around that. No one was going to stand for Merle being around any longer and Daryl could see why.

With her kindly-meant words at the truck, Kit had given him some hope. It had been a long ass time since Daryl had felt useful, appreciated or remotely understood. He felt most of that from certain members of the group but he felt all of it from Kit all the time. He felt like she knew him and he felt like maybe that road went both ways.

She’d given him hope that there was something out there for him, outside of Merle’s shadow and she gave him hope that her confidence, in his ability to take that chance, was justified. She’d also given him a glimmer of hope that that moment by the lake had meant something to her too. Maybe her offer, to catch up when she got back from Texas, was more than just professional or friendly interest? Maybe.

Daryl couldn’t begin to know what the lake had meant to her or what she’d meant by her offer. All he could know was himself. He began to face the truth, as he sipped his beer and sat in silence now, as Merle had exhausted himself in the garage at his back. He stared into the night and could think of nothing but that woman. The body he’d seen: small but strong, soft but fit for anything, slim but with epic curves in all the right places. The woman of his dreams, slick with water and glistening in the full midday sun. Wrapping a towel around her, she'd looked up at him with those big, dazzling, grey-blue eyes, full of concern. Beautiful. Who needed a centrefold with an image like that burned onto their retinas.

Who had he been kidding? He knew now that he’d wanted her from the start. He’d liked her as a friend but since the lake he had to admit that he lusted after her body like a man that wanted far more than friendship.

He thought about her, just like Merle would. Hated himself for it but he had to admit the truth of it. Had to accept his own desire and he had to admit that he prayed that he hadn’t imagined that just for a fraction of a second, maybe he’d seen that wanting echoed back from her. Maybe.  

He didn’t know what he was going to do about Merle. What the hell he could do for a grown assed man who didn’t even want to change. But he did know that there was no way he wasn’t gonna be calling Scott, getting his ass on that trip next month with her if he could possibly swing it, asking for her number, meeting her for that coffee. He’d never felt this way about anyone in his entire life before and he wasn’t about to let her go without some kind of fight. He wasn’t no Casanova and seduction sure wasn’t in his wheelhouse but he had to make some kind of play. If she gave him the chance… he just had to.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go - New stuff!!! :) Hope you like it.

“Hey there, is that Daryl?” The unfamiliar voice asked.

“Yeah?” He responded warily.

“Hi Daryl, it’s Scott.”

Daryl didn’t know quite what to say to the man. Was he calling for an apology? ‘Cause if that was the plan he’d be waiting ‘til judgment day. Daryl wasn’t about to apologise for his dumbass brother, whatever he’d done and Merle just wouldn’t even acknowledge that such a thing was necessary. He’d already turned the whole thing around in his own head and concocted a nice comforting fairytale for the boys in the bar, where he was some kind of white knight, plotted against and ill used by a conspiracy of corporate assholes.

“Ughhhhh – hi.” Daryl filled, as he tried to think what Scott could be calling for. The fellas at camp had said they’d tell the guy what had happened. Could it be more trouble for Merle? They’d said there’d probably be no charges brought, the other guys involved hadn’t been entirely innocent parties but maybe someone had slept on it and had a change of heart?

“I just wanted to check in and see how you guys are doing.”

Daryl didn’t know what the hell to say to that either. Merle had been like a bear with a sore head most of the previous day. He’d gone out, without a word later on and Daryl hadn’t seen hide nor hair of him since. He wasn’t even sure that he’d come home. He couldn’t face checking his room yet, he didn’t know what he felt but he really couldn’t face pretending to give a shit what Merle thought he was doing with his life.

Daryl didn’t think Scott really wanted to know that he was seriously considering just fucking off into the woods for a while, like he used to when his dad was on the rampage. He’d probably come back to find the house full of bar-fly deadbeats crashing everywhere and out of their minds as usual. But right now Daryl didn’t care. Maybe he’d just go and live in the fucking woods permanently.

“Aaand I wanted to see if you’d be interested in joining the trip next month?” Scott added. “I spoke to Jim and Donna and they both thought you’d be a good fit.” He rushed on, suddenly in a hurry to clarify. “I mean, erm, just you I’m afraid. I mean the thing with Merle, it’s all over with and I realise there was fault on both sides but we really can’t risk a repeat performance. The offer is just for you Daryl… is that OK?”

Well now he was really lost for words. The guy was basically offering him the chance to live in the woods and get paid for it. Even with the office-dweller babysitting thrown in, it had pretty much been an ideal job for him and despite the hope he’d felt at Kit’s kind words and encouragement, he’d never really thought it had been much more than her own opinion.

“Uh, yeah… no, no I get that, that’s fine.” He replied, finally snapping himself out of it a little.

“Great. So you’ll do it?” Scott persisted.

“Uh, sure. If everyone’s OK with that?”

“Hah, man I’ve never had such great feedback about a new guide. Honestly. I mean, I know you’re not qualified or anything and we may need to build in some customer service and health and safety training but we have plenty of cover for that on next month’s trip. So if you’re happy with the same rate for now and that one goes well for everyone, then we’ll get some training in and start talking about contracts after. Sound good?”

“Uhh, yeah…. That all sounds OK to me.” Daryl was just considering pinching himself when things got even better.

“Great!” Scott sounded happier about the situation than Daryl even felt. “Well if you want to drop by the house sometime today, I have the balance of your and Merle’s pay from this trip…. minus the last two days obviously…. and Donna’s stopping by with your share of the tips at some point too.”

“Uhhh….tips?” Daryl answered. He hadn’t even expected any more pay. They had left, in some disgrace, two days early after all.

“Yeah, it’s pretty standard for the guests to want to show their appreciation.” Scott replied. “I’m almost certain, from what was said, that they’re YOUR tips, rather than Merle’s but you can split them with him if you want to. Up to you.”

“OK… thanks.” Daryl couldn’t believe how drastically this day was improving his mood from yesterday and it wasn’t even close to noon yet. “I’ll er… I’ll swing by in a bit.”

“Great.” Scott responded, with what appeared to be his favourite word. “Hopefully I’ll be around myself but if not I’ll leave the envelope with my sister Valerie.” He pressed on, giving Daryl the address and hung up, leaving him a little shell-shocked in his own kitchen.

\------------

An hour later Daryl pulled up on the main street in town and made his way around the block to Scott’s house. His knock was answered by a middle aged woman in a bright purple caftan. Her face lit up immediately.

“Well, hello there honey. You must be Daryl.” She purred, in a tone that Daryl did not feel comfortable with at all. “I’ve just been hearing all about you.” She added, with emphasis and a goddamned wink.

“Uh… yeah… Scott said he’d leave an envelope for me?”

“Oh!” She exclaimed, suddenly remembering and grabbing an envelope from the bureau behind her. “That’s right he did.” She smiled, handing over the package. “I’d almost forgotten.”

Daryl must’ve looked pretty perplexed, because Valerie felt the need to explain.

“Oh, it wasn’t Scott that was telling me about you. He left an hour ago and I barely listen to his blather when he’s here.” She laughed, although Daryl could currently very much relate to her sibling ambivalence.

“No, Donna was just here. She had a lot of nice things to say about you. Oh!” She exclaimed, rummaging in a pocket to produce another envelope which she handed over. “I forgot she was here to leave this for you. I swear I’d forget my head on the best of days but damn if it wasn’t as fun as hell watching her torture that poor little English girl, waxin’ on about you.”

If Daryl had possessed rabbit ears, they’d have perked up at that. “Uh, English girl?” He asked.

Valerie wasn’t half as scatty as she appeared. A feline smile crept across her lips as she eyed Daryl with amusement. “Mmmm hmmm.” She answered. “She and Donna left about five minutes ago. They were heading to do some shopping on Main Street if you want to try and catch them.” She crooned with a twitchy eyebrow and a bejewelled finger, indicating the direction.

Daryl was already five steps down the street before he remembered his manners enough to turn and thank her as he took his leave. Valerie waved her response from the door and laughed “Well that’s a pair o’ book ends, if ever I saw one.” as she shut it behind her.

He practically ran to the corner and speed-walked half a block before he noticed Donna on the sidewalk, heading his way. Kit was nowhere to be seen and he’d have liked to have seen Donna a second before she saw him, so he could’ve hidden in one of the stores and snuck past her without being caught but it wasn’t to be.

“Hey there Daryl.” Donna beamed. “I didn’t think I’d be bumping into you today.”

Daryl resigned himself to being waylaid and stopped to make small talk with the woman, while continuing to scan the sidewalks whenever he could for signs of Kit.

“You been to Scott’s?” She asked and when he nodded, proceeded to mention her recent visit and the fact that she was just on her way home after the camp had broken up. “The boys are taking the clients back to Atlanta, we got off easy. I’m just picking some things up on my way home. Gonna drop our  Kitty-cat off on my way but she’s in some kind of fever to pick up a cell phone, so…”

At the mention of Kit, Daryl’s peeps at the sidewalk became much less subtle and much more specific, as his eyes honed in on the cell store up the street. Donna allowed herself a little unseen laugh as she reached through the open window of her truck to deposit her grocery bag on the passenger seat. At the same time she spied the Dixon boys’ truck three cars away and a little smile crept across her face.

“Actually, you know what?…” She posed the question like it had just come to her, with a tone screaming for attention from the distracted man in front of her. “If you got your truck here, I bet you could do us both a big favour if you don’t mind?”

Daryl struggled to drag his attention back to Donna but nodded. “Uh, sure.”

“If you got time to wait a little, could you run Kit back to her digs for me?” Daryl wanted to pinch himself again. Was it fuckin’ Christmas or somethin’?

“Uhhh…” He managed.

“I ain’t sure how much longer she’ll be but I bought ice-cream, so I could do to be getting’ on home.” I’m sure she won’t be too much longer though and her digs are just on your way out of town…. Would you mind?” She weedled, as if she needed to.

“No, no…. I mean yeah, I’ll take her, no trouble.” He followed Donna to the truck in a daze, taking the backpack and small holdall she passed him, which represented all of Kit’s worldly goods on this continent before an idea crashed over him. “Uh, you don’t think she’d mind? I mean, she hardly knows me really, should we check?”

Donna smiled that same feline smile Valerie had worn five minutes earlier. “Sugar I promise you, that girl ain’t gonna mind one bit, if you don’t.” She slapped his arm and swung up into the cab. “see you next month, if not before.” She waved, starting up the engine and pulling off into traffic without further ado.

Daryl made his way back to his own truck and put Kit’s bags on the back seats. Scanning the midden that was the cab of their truck, he gently swore to himself as he grabbed up one of the many paper bags littering the foot-wells and started straightening it up a little.

\--------------

Kit added the box containing the mobile phone, its instructions and various accessories, to the other items in her already bulging day pack and swung it back over her shoulder as she left the store.

Her urgent needs in town now taken care of, she was ready for an afternoon chilling out by herself, back at the accommodation Scott had booked for her. She figured she’d have to endure another ten minutes or so of friendly torture from Donna in the meantime but at least if the woman was getting it out of her system now, she figured there was a chance of her being over it by the time she found herself in both Kit AND Daryl’s company again next month.

It hadn’t taken any persuasion in the end for every one of the guides to volunteer positive feedback about Daryl and Jim to announce that he planned on suggesting the guy as a new addition to the crew at the next camp. No one had raised any objections. It had been nodding and agreement all around. Kit thought her heart would burst as the meeting broke up and they all went off to their tasks and wrangling the guests during the morning’s tear-down.

She knew what this opportunity could mean to Daryl, what it could represent for him and she just prayed he’d believe in himself enough to take it. She hoped that her, entirely out of character, ‘interfering busybody’ rant the other day had at least helped with his confidence.

For herself, after the past forty-eight hours, she had to admit, even if only to herself, that the prospect of him joining her next trip here was the thing that would keep her going for the next few weeks. She’d endured Donna’s banter and teasing with a silent smile to herself. She had to recognise that she did miss him and as far as her feelings were concerned Donna was pretty much right on the money. She wasn’t entirely sure what Daryl’s thoughts or feelings might be and as much as it worried her that her feelings might be entirely one-sided, it almost terrified her more to think that they weren’t.

Kit wasn’t used to fancying real, living, breathing human beings, that might possibly fancy her back. She’d had a rough childhood. Passed from pillar to post through the care system, never anywhere long enough to form any strong bonds with anyone. To top it off she’d been abused as a young child and never really trusted anyone physically after that. She figured she probably hid it well enough and her nomadic existence helped to shield her from questions from those who might have cared.

Daryl was a dilemma though. Here was someone she really did have to admit to fancying, really rather a lot. All those random film and music stars, she’d favoured from a safe distance over the years, could definitely take a back seat now. Here was a living, breathing man that she genuinely couldn’t stop thinking about. A man who’d held her in his arms. A man she was sure she might have voluntarily kissed, if his brother hadn’t caused world war three right at the same moment.

But a man like that… how could he be expected to understand her life, to accept the pace she’d have to set if things between them were going to go anywhere at all? She’d seen him on his hunts, she knew he had patience but could she really expect any man like that, who could surely have any woman he wanted if he put his mind to it, to be THAT patient with a grown woman. To be content to take it slow for a thirty-three year old, with absolutely zero experience and nothing at all to offer a real man like him?

As she looked up and briefly panicked at the empty parking space by the lamp post, Kit caught movement a few spaces behind and looked over to see the man himself, shifting his feet and raising his hand in an awkward looking wave, by his own truck. “FUCK.” She screamed in her head as her eyes drank him in and she froze on the spot.


	5. Chapter 5

She looked like she was having a stroke or something and Daryl was really regretting not checking that she’d be OK with him playing chauffeur before Donna had made herself scarce. He started towards her, hoping that the dumb grin on his face was coming off as casual and friendly rather than more like the ‘creepy stalker’ variety.

“Hey Kit.”

“Hiya.” She smiled, approaching falteringly.

“I bumped into Donna.” He started, wanting to explain straight away. “She asked if I’d wait for ya, give ya a ride to your digs. Hope you don’t mind?” She looked blankly at him and he rushed on to fill the awkward silence. “She bought ice-cream.” He added, randomly.

“Ah.” Kit responded, nodding as if that explained everything. “She shouldn’t have worried I could have got a cab….I… I don’t want to put you out.”

“Ain’t no trouble.” He babbled before she’d even finished the sentence. “Least I can do.”

Kit looked confused and he was himself for a second, it’d just come out and it was the way he felt about it but it didn’t actually make sense without some qualification, he supposed.

He indicated for her to join him and made his way back to the truck, never tearing his eyes from her. “I mean, uh, I guess we’re colleagues now right? … an’… uh… I guess you probably had somethin’ to do with me getting’ the job.”

It was a statement rather than a question and as he opened the passenger door for her, he was encouraged to see her walk towards it with a smile on her lips that confirmed she’d already known about his offer from Scott and was at least a little bit happy that he’d accepted it.

“Oh no,” She answered, “that was all you.” She laughed. Looking up into his eyes, as she passed and climbed in to the cab.

She’d had a chance to calm down a little as Daryl had been briefly waylaid by an acquaintance before making his way around to the driver’s door. She’d watched him avidly through the windscreen, fairly certain that her hungry eyes were well enough hidden by the glint of the sun and the mirror affect it would be causing outside the cab. Jesus fucking Christ on a bike Donna was right. That man was ridiculously hot and the hottest part was that he really didn’t seem to know it.

As he finally swung in to join her in the cab, Kit had to bite her lip to stop herself sighing like a love-sick black-and-white newsreel of a nineteen-fifties bobby-sockser in the presence of old blue eyes, or a sixties school-girl losing her shit over the fab four. Just the smell of him, that fresh, earthy, manly scent, was more than enough to drive her insane in this small space and she only dared look at him briefly, throughout the drive. She hadn’t been this close to him since the lake and daren’t risk it, in case she lost all reason and dived for his lips or something equally suicidally crazy.

They’d batted some small talk back and forth. She’d managed to enquire after Merle. He’d asked if everyone was OK after the events of the other evening. She’d told him where she was apparently staying and Daryl had been impressed.

“Supposed to be real nice.” He commented. “It’s a step up from the motels closer to the highway anyway.”

Scott had put her up at a small, budget place in town on the night before the camp but as she’d be staying longer than expected before Texas now, that hadn’t been an option and he’d got her a good rate at this place instead. It was further out and she’d probably need to rent a car for a few days but it’d be nice to have some space to herself and a bit of autonomy.

“How long you got?” Daryl asked, wishing the answer would be ‘forever’.

“The first Texas trip got cancelled and I couldn’t stay with my friend there for the whole time, so it’s eight more days here now.” She replied. “I was thinking I’d see if there are any local trails. Maybe check out the woods we’re using for next month’s camp. I’ve never been to this part of Georgia before, just passed through Atlanta, it’d be good to explore a bit.” She smiled over at him. “Be a bit of a tourist.” She laughed, before her breath caught in her throat, at the sight of him grinning back.

“That’s great!” He replied, rather enthusiastically, for him. “Hah, look at me.” He checked himself, looking away. “Soundin’ like Scott already, only got the damn job an hour ago.”

They waited at a stop light, only a block from where Kit could see the sign for the holiday apartment complex up ahead. Her last few precious minutes. Should she ask him if he wanted to meet up tomorrow or sometime in the next few days to talk about the next trip?

“Say… uhhh… I ain’t got much on the next few days.” Daryl began. “I was just thinkin’… uh… I mean if you want… Maybe I could show you round some?”

“Oh.” Kit replied, rather shocked by this gift from the gods and desperately trying not to show how overjoyed she was with the idea. “Yes… um… I mean if you don’t mind, that’d be lovely…. Just when you have the time of course, I don’t want to get in the way.”

Daryl figured she was being thoughtful, thinking that he’d have some kind of work on or that he’d have some plan for taking care of Merle or something. Daryl didn’t have anything planned at all, on any of those fronts.

He’d worked various casual jobs the last few years or so and he’d continue to do so, in between trips out to the woods but there was nothing on the horizon unless he went out looking for it. As far as Merle was concerned, he didn’t much care what he got up to for the next couple of weeks right now. He was probably currently in his ‘post-shaming asshole binging’ phase right now. At any rate, if Daryl had had a full diary he was pretty sure he’d have dropped everything and cleared it the second she told him she had time to spend in Georgia.

“Nah, I’m free as a bird for a good while.” He assured her. “Be nice to show you round some o’ my favourite spots, if you don’t mind gettin’ off the beaten track a little?” He asked, with a sidelong smile, as they pulled in outside the office.

Kit swallowed hard. “Sounds like fun to me, if you’re sure it’s no trouble?”

“Ain’t no trouble at all.” Daryl grinned, getting out of the truck and pulling Kit’s bags out himself, before she had a chance to claim them.

This was one of those rare occasions where he figured it was OK to be taking a burden for her and treating her, just a little like a lady, rather than letting her lug her own gear. The little smile and nod of thanks told him that he was right and this one was allowed, as he followed her into the office to check in.

\--------------

 

As she checked in and got the run down about the place, he had a purpose. He watched her visible joy that the apartments had their own pool out back. The guy on the desk explained that it was still the off season for them and only the front block was currently occupied, by mostly short-term business travellers, so as she’d be staying longer, they’d cleaned out one of the small studio apartments for her at the back. She’d have her own small kitchen area and more privacy.

Daryl cynically assumed that this was in order to butter up Scott, who would no doubt have the power to provide a lot of business for this place, with trips setting off from the town. Whatever the reasons, Kit was obviously pretty shocked and very grateful for the consideration.

“That’s amazing.” She smiled at the man, sending an unfamiliar sensation, he could only assume was murderous jealousy, through Daryl. “Thank you so much.”

He had a purpose as the guy walked them to Kit’s apartment and let them in, handing her the key as he took his leave. Daryl had a purpose right up until he deposited her bags on the luggage rack and at that point he started feeling awkward again.

Kit didn’t seem to feel awkward. She took the room in with excitement. It was a big main room, there was a seating area next to the front windows, a small kitchenette towards the back, plenty of hanging space and a nice bathroom, he assumed from the squeak of joy she emitted at the sight of it. And in the middle section of the room there were two queen sized beds.

It was the beds that made Daryl nervous. He hadn’t consciously noticed anything that might point to Kit’s childhood abuse and almost non-existent sexual history since but something about her manner told him she definitely wasn’t ‘easy’. It was half of the reason for his own skittishness with her.

He’d never been much of a ladies’ man but the women he had been with had given off a completely different vibe. They’d all just been looking for pretty casual, pretty meaningless hook-ups and had not been backward in coming forward about it either. Somehow Daryl just knew that his attraction to Kit, even if by some miracle it was partly reciprocated, would have to take a back seat. He knew, unfamiliar territory as it was, he’d need to work up to anything physical with a fair few dates first. And figuring out how to even ask a girl like Kit out on a date was his first problem.

Looking at those beds, he figured he shouldn’t start by literally invading her bedroom. Once she got over the novelty of exploring her new space for the next couple of weeks, she’d either be weirded out that he was still hanging around, or she’d be fine with it. The latter terrified him more than the former. As much as he didn’t want her thinking he was in any way ‘pushy’. He wanted to be ‘friend-zoned’ a shit-tonne less.

Before she’d finished exploring every nook and cranny, Daryl started backing towards the door. Once he was half in, half out, he started taking his leave. He felt pretty heavy hearted about it but as much as he didn’t want to be parted from her again so soon, he didn’t want to overstay his welcome and come off as a freak either.

“I’ll uh, I’ll leave you to get settled.” He mumbled hoarsely from the door.

Kit’s head span round instantly. She’d thought he was right there by the luggage rack, as she’d been checking out the safe in the wardrobe. How had he got as far as the door without her noticing? Damn he was quiet.

“Oh, uh sorry, I didn’t realise you had places to be.” She replied, heading over. “I hope I haven’t made you late?”

“Nah, ain’t got nowhere particular to be, jus’ figured you’d wanna get settled - unpack.” He shifted nervously, worried by her lack of worry about having a single man of her own age group loitering in her room. He found himself repeating in his head “please don’t ‘friend’ me.” Usually he’d be fine with being friends. Passing acquaintances with women would normally suit him down to the ground but not today. Not with THIS woman. Not with Kit.

“Not much to unpack.” She responded, pulling a few items out of her day pack and throwing a couple of provisions into the fridge as she spoke. “There… pretty much all that’s urgent.”

“You must be tired though.” His eye shifted briefly to the beds and then he saw just a little flush of embarrassment in her, as she followed his line of sight. He hoped to Christ that meant she was starting to feel SOMETHING about his loitering. It gave him a little hope that he wasn’t entirely categorised as ‘safe’ just yet, not quite friend-zoned. Had to get the fuck out before he started looking creepy though.   

Daryl had just made it entirely out of the room when Kit clutched for the nearest straw she could think of. As much as she could see that it would be weird to hang out in her room, she really didn’t want to lose Daryl’s company. He didn’t seem like he really wanted to go. She assumed he was just uncomfortable about invading her space and thinking that she’d appreciate some solitary chill time, as he no doubt would after seven days in the woods with forty strangers.

“I’m actually pretty hungry.” She blurted. As soon as it was out of her mouth, she felt a bit brazen about just asking if he wanted to join her for lunch, so she tried to cover up. “Do you know any good places around here?” She asked. ‘Just a question…pretty benign...he doesn’t have to take me up on it.’ She thought.

“Uh, yeah.” Daryl responded enthusiastically. A diner would be neutral territory. A diner ‘could’ constitute a date.

“There’s a decent place just up the street. You can walk to it from here.” He saw her face drop just a little as he said it and it gave him a little confidence that she might prefer company.

“Could eat m’self, truth be told… uh, … don’t suppose you’d like some company?”

Kit grabbed her, now half empty, day pack and her keys and made her way to the door before he had a chance to change his mind. “That’d be great.” She said, locking the door behind her and turning to smile at him face-to-face. “If you’re sure you’re free?”

“Free as a bird.” He replied, when he’d got his breath back. Damn she was pretty.


	6. Chapter 6

It was much more workaday than the gleaming 50s diner that might pop into anyone’s head at the mention of the word but it had a damn good menu and plenty of seating. As Daryl had promised, the walk had been short and they’d each spent most of it trying to think of topics that would keep them chatting and extend this afternoon as long as possible.

They chose a quiet booth and ordered quickly. Daryl recommended the cheese burger and Kit was happy to take the advice. She asked for no onion and extra pickles and they both ordered sodas. She’d ummed and ahhhed over that for a little while but in the end she’d decided that it was too hot a day to be that bloated all afternoon from a milkshake. “I’ve fallen foul of supersized American milkshakes before.” She laughed in explanation to the waitress.

They talked constantly. Neither were usually particularly verbose but they both wanted to know more about the other and more importantly, extend the time they had together by preventing each other getting bored.

After batting ideas around, about what kinds of trips they could take together in the next few days and making plans for tomorrow, Kit had asked about the town. How long he’d lived here, what he’d done for work here before the trip, what there was to do for fun nearby.

It took Daryl a while to notice but it was the most he’d ever said about himself to another person for as long as he could remember. He’d thought he was answering general questions about the town each time but he noticed finally that she was really asking about him. She seemed interested too and encouraged him to expand when he went off on tangents. Maybe she really did like him a little.

Daryl flipped it after a while and though he couldn’t match her subtlety, he was glad to note that she seemed happy to answer his questions too. He was amazed to hear about her background and what she’d managed to make of her life from literally nothing. She’d been an orphan. Not a stitch or a penny of her own from the start.

He listened with interest as she described the transformative ‘wilderness adventure week’ she’d had at the age of fourteen. She’d been so grateful that a bunch of councillors in a boring, wood panelled chamber somewhere in her county had seen fit to approve the budget for such things. As a kid growing up in the city it had been her only chance to see real, wild nature up close and personal. To learn to care for and ride a horse, go white water rafting, caving, climb a cliff face and rappel back down it, spend hours orienteering in the woods and try her hand at archery. It had been her idea of heaven on earth.

She’d got along with the guides and instructors, told them all how much she was enjoying it every day. Some of the kids had been less than enthusiastic but she wanted them all to remember her, to know that this holiday had changed her life. She had a plan.

“A plan?” Daryl asked, as their plates were cleared away.

“Oh, yes.” She replied. “I’m a big one for having a plan.”

She’d sent the wilderness centre a Christmas card for the next two years, making damn sure they didn’t forget her name. As she approached her ‘transition’ out of care she’d sent letters. She’d asked them to consider her if there were any positions coming up. She’d told them she was leaving care and wanted to do what they did. Wanted to ‘give back’ and touch others’ lives the way they’d touched hers.

A feline smile crept over her lips and Daryl couldn’t help but love it. “Worked like a bloody charm.” She said.

She’d received the letter that changed her life, in response to the third or fourth of hers, just a week after she left the care home and was making the most of living in an intermediate, shared home. It was an offer from the centre. She could work for them. It would be all the grunt work, as she wasn’t qualified for anything but they’d work out some kind of training to help her build her skill level. In the meantime there’d be a little pay and accommodation thrown in. she’d packed her bag and gone straight there the next day. Never looked back and never regretted a day since.

There followed a brief argument about who should pick up the bill. Daryl insisted that he owed her big time for putting in a good word for him with Scott. She’d argued back that it hadn’t been her doing and he deserved the credit for getting the job himself. Finally Daryl had retorted that he had tip money burning a hole in his pocket and since he had no fucking intention of splitting it with his asshole brother, that she could think of it as Merle’s treat if she liked. She had to laugh at that and Daryl won the point and the cheque.

As they’d returned to her apartment, Kit continued her story. Telling him how she’d trained up and eventually moved on to game management, as a trainee gillie in Scotland and then on to international travels and working abroad on ranches and game reserves all over the world.

“I ain’t never met anyone like you.” He blurted without filtering. “I can’t even imagine breakin’ out of the mould like that. You’re the bravest, ballsiest person I ever met.” He’d shocked himself a little with the outburst but he just couldn’t help himself. “An’ now you got me doin’ the same thing… a little… I guess.”

After unlocking the door, Kit turned to face him. “Daryl, for the last time, you did that yourself. You impressed the hell out of everyone, not just me.”

A little moment of embarrassment hung in the air between them as they both took in her choice of words.

“Well that may be true but I don’t know if I’d ‘a taken so easy to the work without a shinin’ example like you to live up to.” He mumbled back honestly. “An’ I don’t know that I’d have believed that offer was genuine and not just bitten Scott’s head off and scuppered myself, if you hadn’t given me a little hope and a little faith to cling on to that last day.”

Their eyes met briefly before they both looked away a little bashfully, remembering that last exchange in the woods before Daryl had had to drive his loud mouthed brother home. Neither was used to being quite so well thought of or praised by another, or to praising another themselves, quite so openly.

Kit backed into her room “Do you want to come in for a bit?” she invited.

Daryl hesitated for a second, trying to decide on a path but taking some inspiration from her own background, he decided to be bold. Just lay it all out and let the chips fall where they may. He didn't have time to mess around. Carpe diem and all that crap.

“Nah.” He shook his head decisively.

Kit was a little thrown by this sudden decisiveness and apparent lack of interest in spending any more time with her today. “Oh.” She said, a little crestfallen.

“I need to be honest with ya.” Daryl started, shuffling nervously. “It might make things awkward or ya might not wanna see me no more but I gotta say it like it is. I ain’t no good at lyin’ anyhow an’ I ain’t got time to waste, if you’re getting’ on a plane in nine days.”

Kit’s mind raced at the possibilities. She was pretty sure someone would have told her, Donna would have known, if he’d had a wife or a secret family or been an axe murderer or something. She met his eye, with what she hoped was an open expression and nodded for him to continue.

“I like ya Kit.” He blurted, avoiding her eye in case all he saw there was revulsion, or even worse… pity.

“I liked ya first time I met ya and ain’t nothin’ since that’s changed my opinion. I like ya more ‘n anyone I can think of and I think I’d be happy to spend every available second of the next few days with ya, ‘til ya fly off ta Texas, if you was willin’.”

Kit thought she might be having a heart attack.

“Thing is, I don’t wanna come in an’ just be your buddy. But I don’t want you feelin’ pressured neither.” He struggled to find the right words, to explain without freaking her out or making her hate him enough to call off their plans… what he hoped would now be dates… if he could just put it the right way.

“I like you an’ I think maybe you like me just a little too. Maybe not… maybe you ain’t even thought about it at all but I had ta tell ya, don’t want to waste a second if there’s any chance ya might be persuaded to think that way, ‘fore ya go home for good?” He looked up briefly but he couldn’t read the expression on her face, her eyes were like saucers and she looked like she hadn’t breathed for a while.

“I’m just hopin’ that maybe, if you could see your way clear ta throw me a bone, we could think of these trips out as kind of like dates… maybe?.... an’ maybe when you’re back from Texas you’ll have had a chance to think about it. See how ya feel then?” She hadn’t jumped in yet and Daryl couldn’t quite believe the sheer amount of verbal diarrhoea he’d just managed to spew all in one go.

Figuring he was on a roll, he guessed he may as well get on and finish out the thought. “An’ in the meantime, no pressure and no expectation… ain’t gonna push for nothin’ you don’t want…. We can just keep it friendly. Just can’t think of anythin’ I’d rather do than spend as much time getting’ ta know ya as I can before you go.”

As she finally forced her lungs to breathe and her heart to pump again, Kit thought through her reactions from the last couple of minutes in the blink of an eye. She’d really run the gamut and felt like it had been a rollercoaster of a ride.

At first she’d been elated to learn that Daryl actually had feelings for her. That he wasn’t just being kind, or friendly, or like a well meaning Southern boy, rolling out the welcome mat in a show of hospitality he might have extended to anyone. She’d hoped that wasn’t the case, he didn’t seem that naturally open, that naturally outgoing but to hear it confirmed was like manna from heaven.

Then she’d been terrified by the prospect of him wanting her like that and her not being in a position to just leap into his arms and encourage him. She couldn’t do that. She wasn’t psychologically ready to hand herself over into his care and physically reciprocate yet. She’d only been overtly aware of the strength of her attraction to him for two days. That was not enough time to break down barriers constructed over twenty-five years ago by a scared little girl, with a will of iron, who wasn’t about to just give up control… right now… this second.

As he’d explained his hopes though, panic had subsided a little. His dreams were small, his hopes were within her gift. What he professed to want from her right now was manageable and she wanted it too.

“Yes.” She responded immediately. He’d barely finished his last word before that instant analysis was complete. Really it was just a calculation between the likelihood of him being trustworthy, against her ability to resist her attraction to him anyway. “Yes, I’d like that.” She qualified, a little less eagerly. There was no contest in the end and maths had no place here.

Daryl was now the one looking shocked. He stared, disbelievingly, hardly able to process the instant answer to his proposal and his desperate, internal prayers.

“Uh, great.” He managed, after a second. “Good… uhh… I’ll see ya tomorra then?” He added, backing away before his legs buckled under him or she had chance to change her mind.

“Yeah.” She replied, before clutching yet again. “Unless you want to start tonight?” She asked hurriedly.

“Huh?”

“If you’re free, I mean.” She added. “We could go out tonight? You could show me what the night life’s like?” She smiled, recovering some composure and added coaxingly “Our first date?”

Daryl grinned back. “Second.” He responded. “Second date.”

Kit gave a bashful nod and Daryl fought back the urge to surge forward and kiss those sweet lips right this second. He smiled to think that he might get his chance later. Maybe he’d get a goodnight kiss after their second date… if he managed not to fuck it up too badly.

“I’ll pick ya up at seven?” He asked, with a little wave as he began backing away and almost fell in the pool.

“Careful.” Kit laughed as she nodded her agreement back.

“Don’t get too dressed up or anythin’, ain’t nuthin’ fancy to go to round here.” He added as an afterthought.

“Oh, OK – I won’t dig my ball gown out of the backpack then.”

They both laughed nervously at that and waved again before Kit lost sight of Daryl behind the block of rooms opposite. She closed the door and rested her back against it, breathing out hard.

From absolutely nowhere Kit squealed, feeling like the dopey schoolgirl she’d never had the chance to actually be, as she launched herself, with arms outstretched, onto the nearest bed. 


	7. Chapter 7

As he drove back to the house, Daryl was on autopilot. His mind was entirely occupied by mild shock at what had just happened. He couldn’t quite believe that he’d actually drummed up the courage to throw himself open and just straight up tell her he liked her. He wasn’t quite sure how he’d had the balls to do it but he guessed desperation had something to do with it. He was glad he’d had the spark to call tonight their second date, he couldn’t imagine how he’d cope with the pressure of a ‘first date’ tonight, if he hadn’t had the brainwave to co-opt lunch into the equation.

Their lunch date had confirmed to him that she was something special, as if he hadn’t known that already. She was worth a hundred of any other woman he’d ever met and he only had a little over a week to try and convince her to like him back even a fraction as much. He’d had visions of collecting her from the airport before the trip next month and having her throw herself into his arms. He wanted that – he wanted her to miss him, just one percent as much as he was already damn sure he would miss her. He figured, if he was going to have a chance of invading her thoughts as often as she did his, he’d have to spend every second he possibly could with her before she got on that fuckin’ plane.

Pulling into the drive, he wondered, for the first time since he’d left this morning, where Merle was. He had checked his room in the end, before heading into town. Nothing to see but a perfectly made bed and several beer cans, littering the floor. He guessed he’d just been on a bender and crashed at some buddy’s place. Marvin or Little Pete’s probably. He still didn’t really care, as long as he hadn’t ended up in the Emergency Room or Jail but as he approached the door he was filled with a little trepidation at what he might find.

Nothing.

OK, he guessed that was good for now. He still wasn’t quite in the mood to deal with his brother’s shit and assume the persona he’d have to in order to get anything but barking and over-dramatic posturing in return. Looking closer, he could see that Merle had been home at some point today. The kitchen showed signs and there was toothpaste all over the bathroom basin, so he’d definitely dropped by. Still no sign in his room but there were no more beer cans added to the pile here or anywhere else. That could be a good thing. Or it might mean that He’d just thrown himself all the way off the wagon and moved on to other vices.

Whatever. He was alive somewhere and he’d managed to find his way home, so he wasn’t absolutely out of his tree. That would do for now. Daryl had bigger fish to fry today.

He hunted in his room for the cell phone he’d left somewhere in there before the trip. He didn’t use it much, just for work when he had it, so it’d be dead as a Dodo right now. As he laid his hands on it finally he kissed it and plugged it into the charging cable in the outlet by his bed. As he waited impatiently for enough juice to start the thing up he pulled a napkin out of his pocket and flattened it reverently on the bed next to him.

Finally there was enough in the tank to get the thing going and create a contact.

“Hi.” He typed, only realising as he hit send that he hadn’t put his name on the text. It could be from anyone, he was just following it up with a second text, as he assumed it’d be a while before she saw it anyway, when she replied.

“Daryl?”

“Yeah, sorry 4got 2 sign off. Duh!”

Her response was just a bunch of random symbols, as far as he could tell.

“Don’t know what that said. Looks like Martian?” He replied.

“Haha. OK, no worries. It was emojis but I guess our phones aren’t compatible.”

Daryl smiled “We still good for 7?”

“Yep – see u later.”

“Looking 4wd 2 it.”

“Me 2.”

“You can tell me what an emoji is then.”

“Haha - OK :)”

 

Kit couldn’t stop grinning. She thought her face was going to crack. She’d unpacked her clothes and washed those she’d used on the trip in the little laundry room near the reception block. It had taken all of an hour in total, which was one of the things she loved about the US and foreign laundry facilities in general. It would have been three hours’ of her life she’d never see again, washing and tumble drying this little lot in her own flat at home.

On her return to the room, after putting the clothes in the washer, she’d noticed that the mobile phone was almost up to full power and turned it on for the first time. After a quick flick through the TV channels confirmed that more choice of channels didn’t necessarily produce anything actually worth watching, she put the phone in her pocket before making her way back to put her clothes in the dryer.

She almost jumped out of her skin when the text came through and made a mental note to reset the notification noise and the volume ASAP. However, when she saw the text, she had other things on her mind. It wasn’t from the cell company and only one other person had her number at the moment. She’d insisted on him taking it at lunch.

As they’d finished up their frenzied little text chat and she dumped her clothes out of the dryer, Kit felt exactly as she had as she’d bounced on that bed an hour earlier. She could not wait for seven o’clock.

Back in the room, she fussed around for a while, hanging clothes, rearranging the ones she’d already put away. Deciding between her two ‘going out’ tops she’d packed for emergencies, that she was now hoping would be nowhere near enough to last her through her ‘dates’ between now and her flight to Texas. She was full of nervous energy and couldn’t settle at all. She briefly considered having a swim but just as she thought of it, a group of people in work trousers and shirts appeared and started claiming spots around the pool.

They must have been let off from a nearby meeting or conference or something. Some ran off to rooms in the main block to change into their swimmers but others cracked open beer cans and looked like they were happy just to de-compress by the pool, rather than in it.

Kit wasn’t up for socialising or crashing their party, so she retreated to the bathroom and ran a bath instead. She definitely needed a good wash after a week in the woods and a long soak would at least stop her fidgeting and give her a chance to think.

The bath certainly contained her fidgeting but as she’d undressed and lowered herself into the water, Kit had to admit her hands and mind were wandering more than she was used to for a perfunctory soak. She found herself moving her hands over her arms and legs, slowly caressing her belly and rubbing her thumbs over stiff nipples as she reached up to cup her slickened breasts.

Well this was new. Kit wasn’t entirely inexperienced with self-pleasure. She’d gone through a little masturbatory phase in her teens, brought on by adolescence and an overdose of hormones. It had felt dirty then. A response to her previous abuse, she’d supposed but she’d found out later that a sense of shame wasn’t an uncommon reaction at that age, even under ‘normal’ circumstances. So later on she’d made an effort to try to break down that barrier at least. The one between herself and her own body.

She’d started small. Touching herself. Forcing herself to stand naked in front of mirrors. She’d overheard a bizarre discussion about actually putting a mirror between your legs to get a good look but she didn’t want to do that. That felt a little too close to the bone. The reprogramming had worked to a degree though. She’d still been far from ready to open her body up to a man, or even change in front of other women but she felt more comfortable in herself and sometimes she’d actually felt a little ‘glow’ of pleasure at her own ministrations.

Right now, eyes closed, oil slicked water lapping around her, Kit allowed her hands to wander and as she did she was not thinking of them as her own hands. For the first time ever she was allowing herself to imagine being held by another person. A specific, real, live, breathing, person at that.

She reached back to that day by the lake and pictured that oblivious, half stripped object of desire, that perfect specimen, right here, right now, sharing her bathwater and exploring her naked body. She imagined her own hands caressing, not herself but him.

By the time she actually touched her clitoris she’d worked herself up to a lather with her vivid fantasy alone. The little lump of nerves sang like they never had before.

“Daryl.” She gasped, a few minutes later, before pulling her fingers away in shock.

That was the closest she’d been to an orgasm in her life. She hadn’t even known she’d been capable of it but apparently she was. She’d felt the warmth, the beginning of a tingle in her toes and something building in her core. She’d pulled back in fear. Like a child afraid of sudden flames.

As she sat bolt upright, causing a mini-tidal wave in the bath and tried to regulate her breathing and regain some composure, Kit began to wonder. What if the real question wasn’t whether she could trust Daryl to keep to the bargain and not push her further than she was ready for? What if it wasn’t even really a question of trusting herself not to let her own desires run away with her? What if her real fear was not allowing herself to trust those desires and just let it all go.

It was all just a bit too much to decide on right now, she thought, dragging herself out of the bath and wrapping a towel around herself. She pointedly avoided the mirror as she dried her hair, pulled on her fresh clothes and brushed her teeth. It was only when she was otherwise ready and it was time for just a splash of makeup that she allowed herself to meet her own eye.

“We’ll see.” She whispered to her reflection, as she applied a little mascara and a swipe of tinted lip balm. “We’ll just wait and see.”

____________

 

Daryl arrived just before seven and daren’t be early, so he sat around for a while trying to think of what to say and exactly where he could take her. He’d never actually taken a lady out for dinner before, or indeed any kind of actual date at all. He couldn’t think of anywhere that he had been himself that would be suitable. All the places he frequented were just basic diners like the one up the street. That was fine for a casual lunch, that neither of them had considered an actual date at the time but not for a REAL date.

Similarly, all the places he could think of for after dinner, if he hadn’t fucked it up completely by then, were just dive bars and pool joints. He couldn’t think of much else. There was a bowling alley but that seemed childish and a cinema but he had no idea what was on and it’d be no doubt full of teenagers making out anyway.

He berated himself a little for literally putting no real thought to this until right now but to be fair, he had spent a while hunting for his smartest pair of black jeans and tracking down their lesser-spotted iron to try and breathe life back into his best shirt. He’d been in a state of mild panic for most of the afternoon. He tried to think of any recommendations he’d had from guys he knew. Some of the guys on his last construction job had had wives and girlfriends. Surely if he wracked his brain he could come up with a place they’d mentioned going to and liking……. Nope.

As he realised he was in danger now of being late, he got out and started towards the side of the building. As he did, he saw a familiar figure on the sidewalk on the corner of the block. It was the waitress from the diner.

Tilly or Tina or something like that. He knew her a little he thought. Merle had chatted her up some, years ago, before the last visit to the slammer. She looked like she was on her way home from work. She caught his eye and recognition dawned. They’d left a decent tip and he’d never done anything to upset her that he knew of. No reason she shouldn’t be friendly and respond to his nod. As she did just that, a thought occurred to Daryl.

She didn’t seem to mind the intrusion. She’d stopped to allow him to join her and smiled as she’d thought the question over.

“This a place for good food you’re thinking of or a place good for atmosphere?” She asked.

“Uh.” Daryl shook his head and tried to think. In the end he threw himself on her mercy. “Actually.” He confided. “I need a place that’s perfect for a first date……. Whatever that means to ya I guess.”

Tilly nodded, with a broad smile. “That British girl you had with ya at lunch?” She asked.

Daryl’s reluctant nod told her all she needed to know.

“Thought as much. ‘Colleagues’ my ass.” She laughed. “She seemed like she’d be alright with half decent food, long as the atmosphere was good. I’d take that girl to Rudy’s if I was you.”

“Rudy’s?”

“Yeah, Rudolpho’s on Third and Maple but everyone calls it Rudy’s.” Daryl nodded, he’d passed it, just never been in.

It’s decent food, not great but good value and a real good range of desserts and drinks. There’s smart sit down tables in a quiet area at the back for that ‘first date’ vibe you was lookin’ for.” She actually winked. “An’ a public bar on the other side. It ain’t rowdy but there’s sometimes live music and a pretty friendly local crowd.”

Daryl got what she was saying. It wasn’t the kind of place you’d find people like him and Merle. There wouldn’t be any drunk deadbeats getting in their faces and trying to pinch Kit’s ass. He couldn’t have been more grateful for the good advice.

“That sounds just right.” He smiled. “Thanks Tilly. Sorry to’ve held ya up but that’s perfect, can’t thank ya enough.” He said, backing away towards the apartments.

“You’re welcome honey, you two looked good together. Good luck.” She called after him, carrying on her way. “You have a good night now y’hear.”

“Same to you Tilly.” Daryl called with a wave from the corner of the building.

\-------------

Kit was really regretting opening the door. The guy wasn’t threatening or anything, not really but he was pretty tiresome. She blamed herself. She’d been curtain twitching as seven o’clock approached and the anticipation had got too much for her to bare.

The little group of colleagues had gradually petered out as most of them had disappeared off  to forage for food. That had just left a few hardcore drinkers, slowly pickling themselves by the pool. She’d drawn attention to herself with the curtain twitching and eventually had to open the door in response to knocking and the increasing volume of Casanova here’s coaxing calls at her door.

“Well you sure he’s comin’, ‘cos you’re dressed too nice now to spend the night on your own?” The attempted seduction was pretty funny, coming from a man who was drinking nats piss dressed up as beer but had still managed to get rat arsed enough on it to be listing and slurring his speech by seven o’clock. Kit couldn’t imagine he’d be remotely up to actually doing anything, even if she did respond encouragingly.

Just as she was beginning to lose the will to live, she spotted Daryl rounding the corner and breathed a sigh of relief at her rescue, as well as the much awaited sight of him. Grabbing her bag and coat she replied.

“Yep, absolutely certain. Thanks for the offer though.” She smiled, closing the door behind her. “Have a good night guys.” She waved at the group as she made her way over to Daryl, almost at a run.

“The hell’s goin’ on here?” Daryl barked loud enough for the guys to hear, as he reached for Kit’s outstretched hands.

She quickly hugged him in greeting and turned him away from the scene. “Don’t worry about it. Just some of my neighbours.”

“They botherin’ you?” He asked, looking back as they rounded the corner.

“No, they’re just a bit pissed.” She felt him stiffen. “Drunk, it just means drunk.” She smiled at this little show of protectiveness and dare she hope, jealousy. She’d never seen it from this angle before  and she could see now why some girls she’d known had seemed to encourage it in their men. “They didn’t mean any harm and they haven’t done any. They kept me entertained, slightly against my preference, ‘til you got here, that’s all.”

They stopped at the truck and finally his attention seemed to wander from the scene behind them and settle entirely on her.

“Hi.” She smiled up at him.

“Hi.” He half laughed back.

For a second Daryl was lost again, in her eyes and her smiling, accepting, fucking gorgeous face.

“Uh, …. You look real nice.” He said, finally noticing that she’d scrubbed up a little and done something with her hair since he saw her last. She also smelled pretty damned good and he liked the green of her top. It did something a little special to her eyes and the cut was pretty flattering to her figure too. She’d look like an angel in a trash bag to Daryl but damn she looked real good right now. He figured that, despite him not giving a shit what she wore, he should probably make some kind of complement, as she’d made some effort to dress up.

“Thanks.” She replied, looking away with a little blush creeping in. He opened the passenger door for her and she climbed in. “You scrub up pretty handsome yourself.” She replied, resting her hand on his shoulder for steadiness, as she got in.

Daryl’s shoulder tingled from her touch as he closed the door and made his grinning way around the hood. Kit watched from inside like a starving Lioness sizing up a particularly juicy looking Impala. She’d liked the look of him in his scruffy combat pants and short sleeved khaki shirts. He’d carried off the stonewashed old denim and chequered shirt of earlier today with similar aplomb. Now she saw that this guy could pretty much wear anything and get her pulse racing but damn it if those shoulders weren’t a perfect coat hanger. He was looking particularly scrumptious tonight. Dark black tight fitting jeans and a midnight blue shirt, rolled up to the elbows. He smelled fresh and he’d obviously showered and washed his hair, which hung soft and kinked at the ends, just at the top of his collar. Damn he looked good enough to eat. Kit bit her lip just thinking about it.

“Y’ OK?” He asked as he swung up into the cab.

“Uh, yeah.” She smiled back uncertainly, trying to regain some composure. “Just hungry.”

Daryl smiled and nodded back. “Well, I reckon we got that covered. I got a recommendation on a place near Main street.”

Kit smiled back. “Great.”

“I hope you got a sweet tooth? It’s supposed to be good for  desserts.”

“Sounds perfect.” She nodded as he pulled out into the street.


	8. Chapter 8

Rudy’s was indeed perfect. Daryl told Kit about bumping into Tilly on their way and when they were shown to their table Kit was visibly thrilled with the choice.

“We owe that woman a niiice tip next time we have lunch there.” She said, taking in the quaint, comfortable surroundings.

Daryl had to agree. It was quiet, cozy and pretty private for each of the handful of other couples and groups of diners they’d passed on the way to their table. It was ideal for a first (or second) date but the main reason he was so thrilled right now was that Kit had basically just signed up for more dates.

“Oh yeah?” Daryl replied with a broad smile. “That you promisin’ a third date, even if I fuck this one up royally?”

To his joy, Kit just laughed and he joined her and he never felt for a second that the answer to his question might actually be ‘No’. They ordered quickly, neither really being much interested in the food but service was slow and they were thankful for it. The night could last forever as far as both diners were concerned.

Kit had a million questions and tried not to just throw all of them out at once but paced herself, so as not to make Daryl feel like he was being cross examined on a witness stand. She wanted to know everything but she also knew the limitations of that. She knew to steer clear of anything that might lead to painful memories. She remembered those scars and knew enough not to probe about Daryl’s parents. She wanted tonight to be comfortable.

She asked about his bow, his favourite haunts, the jobs he’d done in town and the characters he’d come across. When she touched on his family, she stuck to Merle and safe open questions about their childhood like; what his favourite band or subject at school or show on TV or childhood games were. She’d answered all of the same questions herself without touching on her own dark secret, so she reasoned he could easily do the same.

Daryl was grateful that Kit never seemed short of something to say or a question to ask him. She’d kept the conversation flowing and he was glad of it. He loved the sound of her voice and everything that came out of her mouth just seemed to make her even more attractive to him. If it had been left to him though, they’d just have been sat in awkward silence as he struggled to stop thinking about how fucking lucky he was to be here with her, just long enough to string a sentence together.

It wasn’t all her though. It was a conversation and although she started all of the topics, Daryl found that by the end of the main course, he probably knew as much about her as she did about him. She was always happy to answer the same question herself or go off on tangents with minimal prompting. He’d even been distracted by the conversation and interested enough in knowing more, to actually ask a few original questions of his own as they got going. It was easier as it went along and after having had a little practice earlier this afternoon, it felt like stretching a long neglected muscle. Daryl wondered when he’d last cared enough about the person he was talking to, to put some actual thought and effort in to a conversation. A long fucking time ago, he figured.

Once the plates had been cleared, the server returned with a smaller menu.

“Ooooh, dessert.” Kit crooned, taking hers and twitching an eyebrow at Daryl. He smiled back, accepting his own.

“Well I reckon we’re havin’ dessert then.” He confirmed to the waiter.

“I’ll give you a minute to look.” He responded with a smile, backing away.

“Now this is where you find out my dark secret.” Kit said, seriously.

“What’s that?” Daryl asked, concerned by the turn of her voice, until he noticed a twinkle in her eye.

“I’m an absolute piggy for pudding.” She laughed. “Dessert.” She corrected herself. “Pudding is dessert… at home….unless it’s a Yorkshire pudding.” She shook her head. “Well anyway, I have a sweet tooth.” She added. “And I talk too much.” She finished, with a little embarrassed laugh at herself for rambling.

“Well that’s fine by me.” Daryl replied smiling. “On both counts.”

After briefly looking over the menu, Daryl didn’t know what to go for. Everything sounded damned good and Tilly had pretty much said you couldn’t go wrong. At the bottom he spotted the perfect solution.

“How ‘bout that?” He indicated the line. “Bit of everythin’ looks like.”

Kit beamed in response and the deal was done. Daryl ordered the taster and got the mini tiramisu to himself because Kit hated coffee. He banked that nugget for later, in case he needed it. Kit got the mini-chocolate mud cake because Daryl took one tiny bite and decided he was going to develop diabetes before he finished his share if he carried on. Kit laughed in response, agreeing that it was a little too sweet and grateful for it if she got it to herself. They’d shared the other two mini-deserts almost equally, although Daryl always insisted on Kit having the last spoonful.

Daryl honestly couldn’t remember having a better meal. Talking more, laughing more, enjoying someone’s company more, enjoying watching someone lick a spoon clean more. He almost offered her his own and certainly smiled as he saw the fleeting thought, of whether it would be socially acceptable to lick a plate, cross Kit’s mind. Did he really know her that well already? He felt like maybe he did.

There was no argument over the bill this time. It had already been decided in the truck. Daryl insisted that he’d never expected to get paid for those last two days and the money was a gift from the gods as far as he was concerned, so they may as well put it to good use. He’d pay the bill this time but Kit insisted they’d go Dutch for future dates and that tonight she’d leave the tip for dinner and buy the first round of drinks at the bar after. Daryl had been so deliriously happy that she was thinking that far ahead, that he’d agreed without a further thought. 

As he escorted Kit through to the bar, Daryl felt like a god himself. There were a few other people around. Sitting or standing in small groups or couples. It was louder in here but still possible to talk without needing to really shout above the music. There was no band on tonight but the music was unobtrusive and inoffensive. The range of liquor was pretty damn impressive but so too were the prices.

Luckily it was two for one on cocktails, so Kit got them four drinks in, right off the bat. She went for Singapore Slings for herself and insisted Daryl could have whatever he wanted of course but if he liked whiskey, as he’d told her he did, then there were three killer whiskey cocktails on the menu.

Daryl had never tried a cocktail in his life but after admitting that in front of the barman, Kit and the other man decided that needed to change tonight.

Jeff, the barman, made a jokey show of making sure his boss wasn’t nearby and insisted that Daryl try his two favourite whiskey cocktails as part of the two for one. Kit smiled and laughed and Daryl couldn’t have refused if he’d wanted to. She so obviously wanted to see him try something different, break out of his mould again. Daryl wanted it too.

Jeff made him a Revolver to start, as he assured them it was an ideal after dinner drink, combining Kentucky Bourbon, coffee and orange. Daryl nodded approvingly after his first taste and agreed it was a nice way to finish out a meal. Kit hadn’t had that one before but Daryl didn’t press her to try, knowing that she wasn’t into coffee and there was a definite taste of it cutting through the bourbon and orange.

Their happy, comfortable chatter continued as they finished their first drinks and Daryl was overjoyed that Kit offered him her own straw to try her cocktail. He hated gin but took her up on it, smiling into her sparkling, laughing eyes as she watched him take a sip. He could imagine the taste of those lips, the feel of them against his own and a little thrill shot through him.

Jeff returned, as if by magic, as Daryl’s glass began to empty and made good on his promise by mixing him a Sazerac. He’d said it was up to Daryl and the house version of an Old Fashioned was certainly a good option but he’d rather make him something a bit different. Kit agreed, telling Daryl that you could have an Old Fashioned anywhere but she’d only ever had a Sazerac once and never seen it on a cocktail menu anywhere else.

“Well my guess would be New Orleans – am I right?” Jeff asked, with a wink that would have made Daryl mad if the man hadn’t been old enough to be her father.

Kit shook her head. “Never actually got there I’m afraid. I think it was Baton Rouge though, so close but no cigar.” She winked back conspiratorially.

“Aaaah,” Jeff replied. “Well I guess that decides where you two should spend your next romantic weekend then, huh?” He smiled at them both as he placed the glass in front of Daryl. “You’d sure like Bourbon Street I reckon.” He finished, with another twinkling smile and disappeared to serve another customer.

Kit and Daryl shared a shocked little embarrassed smile at Jeff’s assumption and then avoided each other’s eyes for a few seconds until they could trust themselves. Daryl spent the time fiddling with his glass and then tentatively taking a sip.

Kit looked around at the other patrons in the bar and she had to admit, she and Daryl must seem pretty indistinguishable. There were a few couples around and she began to compare. She hadn’t really realised until now but she was standing much closer to him than she usually would, especially to a single man she’d only known for a few days, who definitely wasn’t gay. The only thing they weren’t doing that the others were was actually touching.

She noticed it now. An arm draped across a table to caress a partner, fingers brushing fingers. A hand gently squeezing a thigh. A head resting on a shoulder. A constant half hug. These were real couples. These were people who’d been dating for weeks or months. People who lived together. There were a few rings on those caressing fingers. These were ‘old marrieds’ out on their weekly ‘date night’ or their monthly reprieve from the kids, while grandma babysat and they tried to remember who they really were. These people loved each other. These people knew each other. These people slept together.

She looked back at Daryl and he met her eyes finally, offering her a sip of his cocktail.

“S’good… you wanna try?” He asked.

“Yes.” She replied, leaning a little closer and brushing against his side as she took the glass and sipped from his straw.

She hadn’t expected him to do anything but she had hoped. As he placed his hand on the small of her back, a little thrill went through her. A much more potent hit than the incendiary drink in her hand. She'd never wanted to be one of these people before, it was a revelation to realise that maybe she did now.

“Mmmmh,” She murmered, turning just a little to make eye contact as she handed the glass back. She was just a few inches from his face now, she could just stretch up on her toes and press a kiss to those lips, the second time she’d desperately wanted to do just that in three days.

“You like it?” He murmered back with a little smile. Kit wondered if he was even conscious of touching her. Conscious of the half hug he had her in. She thought not but she was very conscious of it and she was surprised at just how much she enjoyed it and just how comfortable it felt.

“What’s not to like.” She smiled.

\-------------

 

Daryl only took a few more sips, he’d only had one beer over dinner but both of the cocktails would put him over the limit and the last thing he wanted was getting pulled up for a DUI while on his first real date with Kit.

He was surprised to find that she held her liquor pretty damn well. That glass of wine at dinner had more closely resembled a bucket and she’d downed both of her own cocktails and half of the more potent one of his. This woman just got more attractive by the second.

He figured it’d be best not to get too drunk in front of her at any rate. He had a tendency to get maudlin and grumpy on too many spirits and he didn’t want anything to dampen his senses when he was with Kit anyway. When he was with her, he didn’t need to drink, she got him high as a kite all by herself.

She suggested they should head off. Said she was tired and he figured it had been a long day for her and there’d be another one tomorrow. As they moved away from the bar Daryl became consciously aware for the first time, that he’d had his arm around her and his hand resting on her waist as they stood there. How long had they been standing like that? How long had she been pressed so close that when they separated he was a little cold?

He honestly didn’t know the answer to either question but as she’d seemed perfectly happy with the arrangement, he didn’t berate himself and allowed his hand to linger on her back, as they made their way outside and around to the truck.

Setting off back to kit’s apartment she looked around for anything to take her mind off the journey and the anticipation of their parting tonight. She planned not to allow him to leave without a goodnight kiss at least but as it would be the first voluntary kiss she’d ever shared with a grown man, she didn’t want to over think or over plan it.

“Oh,” She said, picking up the cell phone on the dashboard. “You should charge this up on the way home. You’ll have to message me when you get back to let me know you got home safe or I won’t sleep.” She smiled.

Daryl laughed lightly at her fussing, as she plugged the phone into the cigarette lighter charge adaptor.

“Oh.” She exclaimed again, a note of worry troubling her tone this time. “Daryl you have a lot of missed calls.” She informed him, holding up the screen so he could see the lines of notifications on the home screen.

“That’s weird,” he replied. “Ain’t used the thing for weeks. Hardly anyone even got that number.”

The drive back was quick and the look of worry on Kit’s face forced Daryl to check his messages as soon as they parked up. She knew Merle hadn’t been seen since yesterday, she was actually worried about the dumb old bastard. Kind of sweet of her really but Daryl would rather have left Merle to his own devices for just a few more minutes, if it’d been left to him. He pressed the voicemail button with a heavy heart and a sneaking suspicion of impending doom.

“I gotta go.” He said, entirely unnecessarily. The volume was pretty loud and Kit had heard as much as she needed to. Merle was terrorising an acquaintance at his house. An old drinking buddy of Merle’s, an old site manager of Daryl’s, which was why the guy had his number to hand. No violence involved just yet, It was a night of drinking and god knows what else, got out of hand but he wouldn’t leave and the cops were being threatened. “If the cops come he’s in real trouble. He’s only been out a couple months.”

Daryl looked embarrassed and stressed and pissed off in equal measure. Kit responded instantly, opening her door and getting out. “Of course you do.” She said, squeezing his hand before she removed herself. “Let me know when you’re home safe.” She asked, catching his eye. She meant it.

“I’ll hopefully see you as arranged tomorrow but let me know if things change OK? Go.” She shut the door and waved him away.

Daryl’s heart ached as he lost sight of her in the rear view but he was on a mission for now and his priority had to be saving Merle from himself tonight. It took ten minutes to get there, calling Trev from the car as he drove. Assuring him he’d be there soon. Another ten to tempt Merle away with the promise of beer and snacks at home and derisive snorts of how boring it was at Trev’s anyway, what the hell was he even doing here.

Trev had been begrudgingly grateful and Merle had been so fucking out of it that the rocking motion of the ride home was all it took to lull him to sleep again. Daryl had debated just leaving him to sleep in the garage again but in the end he’d managed to rouse him just enough to half carry, half drag his worthless ass into the house and dump him down on his perfectly made bed. He didn’t bother to try and undress him. He pulled him over onto his side, so he wouldn’t drown himself in his own vomit during the night and left him to it.

He gave himself the most cursory of washes and brushed his teeth, pulling the phone out of his pants’ pocket. The first time he’d had leisure to think of Kit, since he’d left her an hour before.

“I’m home. U OK?”

He almost hoped she wouldn’t respond. He hoped she’d been able to sleep after all and hadn’t been as affected by Merle’s self-inflicted drama as he had tonight. That didn’t stop him feeling a little thrill of joy when she responded immediately.

“Yes, I’m fine. Going 2 bed as u messaged. Thanks for letting me know.”

Daryl tried not to picture her, in some kind of nightgown, slipping between the sheets of the bed in her room. But he knew that room and he’d always had a vivid imagination when he put his mind to it.

“Me 2. Big day 2moro.”

“U sure it’s still OK? If u need 2 take care of anything I understand.”

She meant Merle of course. She cared more about his brother than he did right now.

“He’s sleeping it off. He’s a big boy. Can take care of himself 2moro. I’m going 2 the woods with u. See u at 8.”

“OK. See u then. Night night.”

Daryl loved everything about that sign off and didn’t know how to respond to it. He couldn’t remember the last time anyone had been so sweet to him and he wanted to be sweet right back.

“Sweet dreams.” He pulled from the archive. His mother had tucked him in with those words. They felt warm and comfortable and safe to him and that’s what he wanted to be to her.

As he turned out the light and turned over, he realised for the first time since he’d dropped her off that he’d missed out on that possibility of a goodnight kiss, that he’d hoped for so fervently earlier in the night. Just one more reason to be mad at Merle right now. He was pretty sure he’d been on course, until his dumb brother had sabotaged him. It had been a wonderful night. He hoped for a few more just like it but if he was honest he hoped for a slightly happier ending.


	9. Chapter 9

Kit woke early. She was still on ‘camp time’ and had barely managed to stave off fully fledged wakefulness until half an hour or so after daybreak. Stubbornly refusing to actually get out of bed just yet, she found herself thinking back on last night.

She’d loved every moment. Every word, every gesture, every smile, every touch. She loved the way he made her feel so special, like she was a one-off, some kind of unique thing he was lucky to be in the presence of. She’d never felt like that. She loved it.

She loved the way she seemed to instinctively know just how to push his buttons too. Just how to make him feel confident, bring him out of a funk, give him focus and draw out his best qualities. She loved that he let her do it. She loved that he was his best, most natural, comfortable self when he was with her. She loved it all.

She looked over at the sun, streaming through the gap in the thick curtains and followed the path of a shaft of light, falling softly onto her chest. She put her hand to the spot. Not quite warm yet. The sun would take a little more time to get heat into it. She traced the pattern of the shirt absentmindedly for a minute. Thinking about the its owner.

She’d deflated a little after she lost sight of the truck as he turned the corner. She felt like she’d left part of herself in the truck. The best part. The happiest part. She’d hoped he’d be able to sort Merle out. She hoped, in time, Merle would be able to sort himself out properly. He didn’t seem like a total loss to her. She hoped he could be saved, while there was still something left worth saving. But if she was honest, she hoped for Daryl’s sake, far more than Merle’s.

Returning to the room, it seemed dark and cold, despite the Georgia heat. She’d undressed and tried to fill the space as she bustled and fussed around in her underwear for a while. Cleaning off the mascara and what was left of the tint from the lip balm. She brushed out her hair and tried to distract herself with a little TV for a while but constantly found herself checking her phone. Eventually she decided that a watched pot never boiled and left it by the lamp as she went to get ready for bed.

In desperation for something resembling comfort, she’d pulled a garment from her bag. One she hadn’t washed that afternoon with everything else. One she’d meant to give back but hadn’t found the right moment to yet. He’d left it on the washing line at camp that last day. It had been forgotten in all the chaos of having to get them packed and away before Merle could come around and cause more damage. After her wash, she pulled it over her shoulders and let it settle against her skin. It was the one he’d worn on day three, when they’d brought down the deer together. It had been given a cursory wash. It was sort of clean but it still smelled a little of Daryl.

She’d brushed her teeth and climbed into bed pulling the covers up and feeling the shirt mould to every part of her body, as it warmed against her skin. She closed her eyes and could picture him wearing it. She’d jumped out of her skin as the text came in and reached for the phone like her life depended on it. She’d told him she wouldn’t settle until he let her know he was OK and she’d been dead right. “Sweet Dreams.” She’d thought to herself as she hugged her arms around her sides, feeling her fingers brushing the warm cotton and she’d slept.

Had her dreams been sweet, she wondered. She couldn’t remember them. She remembered those words though and she remembered the night she’d spent with the man who said them, before Merle had thrown a spanner in the works. It seemed like a dream to her now. Whatever Daryl said, it had been their first ‘proper’ date and it had been her first ever date. It had been everything she could have asked for. The only thing missing had been a proper ending.

She’d thought they’d walk to the room together slowly. Maybe he’d have had his arm around her again, like he did at the bar. She didn’t think she’d have invited him in. Not yet. But she’d have let him kiss her. She’d have allowed herself to be kissed. She might even have kissed him back. She didn’t want to think any further than that. She assumed that would have been it, the end but everyone knows not to assume.

Kit sat bolt upright and got out of bed. She wasn’t ready to think about what she might or might not be ready for on a hot summer night in Georgia, with Daryl Dixon in her arms. She hadn’t yet been in that position – “More’s the pity” – she found herself mumbling.

She washed and dressed, charged her phone and prepped her day pack. She found plenty to occupy her thoughts until it approached 8 a.m. and she heard his knock at the door. She flushed at the knock, a little earlier than she’d expected and threw his shirt on the unmade bed, pulling the cover over to hide it from sight, then answered the door.

_____________

 

Daryl stood at the door, awkwardly shifting his weight. He was early. Not just a few minutes either. He was almost half an hour early. She might still be in the shower. Damn it, she might still be in bed. He tried not to think about either mental image but failed.

He’d been too restless to get going this morning to wait a minute longer. He’d been up since sunrise, literally kicking his heels and chomping at the bit to get going. He’d checked on Merle, half a dozen times probably. Asshole was still out for the count and snoring his head off. He’d left a bucket, water and advil by the bed. There was food in the kitchen and a note on the fridge door. He’d be fine.

Daryl knocked on the door.

A few seconds later, she pulled back the door and beamed at him. That big beautiful smile. He’d only seen it a handful of times in the past week, mostly yesterday afternoon and evening but he was proud to realise now that it seemed always to have been directed at him, even when he’d fleetingly caught glimpses of it before that.

“Hey… ah… I’m sorry I’m so early I… uh” He didn’t get any further.

Kit reached out with her arms hooking around his neck and rose up to press a soft, chaste but very urgent kiss on his mumbling lips. He got over his shock just quickly enough to lean down and respond. He wrapped his own arms around her waist and pressed her just a little closer to feel the warmth of her against his body again.

After a few seconds Kit released her grip and pulled back from the kiss. She felt a little blush heating up her neck but forced herself to look at him. Forced herself to face up to the impulsive act.

“Wha’ d’ I do to deserve that?” He murmered softly, as soon as his brain started working again.

Kit smiled. “Nothing yet today.” She responded. “But we never got to say a proper goodnight last night, so I thought I’d say good morning instead.”

“Well tha’s a nice good mornin’.” Daryl replied. “Guy could get used to that…. Can I say it back?” He looked a little sheepish asking but he couldn’t help himself.

Kit nodded, a little uncertainly but Daryl didn’t want to overstep. He pressed his lips back to hers with a little more heat than their first kiss but he didn’t push her any further than she’d shown him she was comfortable with. There was no clashing of teeth and tongues and he was happy to release her after a few intimate seconds.

He felt calmness wash over him. She was like a drug to him. He’d been like a cat on a hot tin roof all morning but he’d had his ‘hit’ now and it had straightened out all the kinks. The best drug he’d ever tried and the best one for him too. She was like medicine, like a balm for all his hurts and worries. The briefest of chaste kisses and he was all right with the world again.

She’d already granted every hope and ambition he’d dreamt of for them in the next week and it was only the beginning of their second day together. Daryl smiled a chilled out, peaceful smile and was all ready to enjoy the ass out of every minute of today. Now pretty certain that he’d have a damn good chance of a good night kiss to look forward to at the end of it, as long as nothing else fucked it up in the interim.

“You ready to go?” he asked, releasing her from his hold.

Kit nodded back and grabbed her day pack and key.

___________

 

On the way to the truck they’d done a quick inventory to make sure they had everything they needed. The first few minutes of the drive had been bustle, as Kit had plugged Daryl’s mobile in to charge, so they had two full batteries for any emergencies. She offered Daryl a protein bar, by way of breakfast, as she checked and reorganised her day pack but they were both still pretty full from the night before.

After that all settled down, they carried on in comfortable silence. Occasionally Daryl would indicate points of interest; a bar he knew well or a building he’d helped build. As they got out into the countryside, he’d point out distant factories or farms and tell her what he’d used to make there or what the farmer was like, how much land they had and what they grew. They passed woods and forested hillsides. He seemed to know who owned what and where he was welcome to hunt or fish.

There’d be none of that this week. You’d need special permits to hunt much but rabbits at this time of year. That was probably another reason the camps were such an attractive prospect to him. Those were opportunities to hunt without adversely affecting the local eco-system. Scott would only arrange the trips on lands where culling was necessary and permits were available. Daryl had seemed like he belonged in the woods, like he knew how things worked there, much better than in town. Kit didn’t need to assume that his new job prospects were his dream occupation. He’d told her so last night.   

In the comfortable breaks in the narrative, Kit found her gaze wandering, taking in the countryside and the beautiful day. She listened to his voice and her hands wandered too. She found her fingers touched to her lips, as she tried to figure out what had got into her this morning.

She’d had no intention to leap at him like that, as she’d opened the door. The sight of him had stoked some kind of mad fire in her belly and as she’d locked eyes with him, she couldn’t control the desperate urge to be as close to him as she possibly could. To claim the kiss they’d missed out on the night before.

He hadn’t taken it as encouragement to take anymore liberties, which she was grateful for but if she was honest, she felt now that she might have been quite happy to share some saliva with him if he’d pushed it that far. It worried her a little, just how far she’d gone already and just how far she might be prepared to go, without any real prompting.

With anyone else she might have worried that she’d shown too much willingness already. She might be concerned that spending the entire day, in remote woods, alone, with a man she’d only known a few days and had just kissed out of nowhere in welcome, might be a dangerous prospect. With Daryl though, she really didn’t feel any nerves about that at all.

She knew she was safe with him on some kind of elemental level. She knew he’d let her set the pace. She already had and a break-neck speed it was anyway to her.

She was more worried about her own urges and lack of control. She wondered as she looked out, watching the world go by and reflecting on all the things she’d listed earlier that she’d loved about yesterday and loved about him. She wondered if she should even be worried about that at all.

_____________

 

Daryl wanted to take her to some of the spots he thought Scott might be considering over towards Chatahoochee for the next camp. Today though, he’d wanted to show her the edge of his universe. He’d never left the state as yet, he’d been a little embarrassed to admit the night before but he’d been to the very edge. He wanted to show her the view from Rabun Bald.

Brasstown Bald was the higher elevation but it was touristy. Rabun might be touristy on the trail itself sometimes but it was a Monday morning during term time. That’d take care of most of the tourists and they could take themselves off the main trail, once they’d seen the view, if they found it too busy for their liking.

He passed the usual gravel track starting point at Sky Valley, preferring a ‘back way’ from an old trail further along. As they parked up it just looked like a path disappearing into undergrowth. It could have been an animal trail to Kit’s eye but Daryl set off confidently, so she followed on behind.

“The route they put on all the maps is straight to and from but there’s a back way that makes it a circuit.” Daryl  explained, stepping deftly over a narrow brook. He reached back to take Kit’s hand and as the path ahead was much wider there seemed no real reason to let go, once she reached the other side.

Neither had really intended to walk hand in hand but neither seemed averse to it, so they lingered that way, almost unconsciously, until the path narrowed again a few metres further along the path.

Kit smiled, enjoying the light and very welcome shade of the overhanging trees and the undulations of the path. She wasn’t one to take much notice of plant life but it seemed to her a particularly verdant area. It seemed to be a veritable cornucopia of different species all around.

Daryl pointed out the Cherokee Rose, as a particular highlight. She’d heard the tale before, of the trail of tears and Daryl planned for them to visit a section of the old trail later in the week but she was no botanist. The flower looked just like a hedge rose to her. Ten a penny on her own home turf, a Yorkshire Rose. It smelled nice though and it was pretty, in its own simple way.

He was in his element again and Kit enjoyed watching him on his home turf. Listening to the stories he seemed to tell without really realising he was even speaking and seeing him clocking all the trails and signs around him as they walked. She wondered what it must be like to live in that head. To see the woods around them the way he did. To understand these surroundings and read them the way he could, without even trying. She was a good tracker herself but she didn’t imagine for a second that her skills even approached comparison to his.

They joined the main trail after a couple of miles and Kit noticed the difference immediately. This was definitely a human track, no mistaking this for a wild animal trail. It was quiet though. Walking along the track for another mile of steep inclines, they didn’t see another living soul. It didn’t take long for Daryl to use the steepness of the path and uneven footing as a perfect excuse to offer his hand again. Kit didn’t think twice.

The path finally flattened out as they reached the summit and the convenient viewing platform there. Kit’s hand never wavered in Daryl’s. She was quite happy to hold fast, especially in excitement when she finally got a real look at the view.

“Oh.” She gasped.

“Pretty nice huh?” Daryl replied. The understatement of the century.

Kit laughed and nodded. “Yeah.” She agreed, nodding back. “Pretty nice.”


	10. Chapter 10

He let her go. Let her wander and enjoy the view. He’d seen it enough before. It was beautiful and he loved it as much as she seemed to but his stomach was more of a priority for the present moment.

He checked the trail behind them to make sure there was no one on their heels to spoil their picnic. Once satisfied, he made his way up to the platform and started unpacking the provisions in their packs. It was a decent snack. Daryl had picked up bread from a local bakery on his route to her digs. She’d picked up cheeses, sausage and chips in town the previous day. Daryl set it all out on the wooden platform, with Kit’s colourful sarong as their picnic blanket.

Eventually Kit’s own hunger overtook her fascination with the vast views around them and she moved to join Daryl on the viewing deck. She told him about the travelling she’d done in South East Asia, where she’d picked it up in a Balinese market. Her eyes lit up as she recounted tales of her travels and Daryl felt a little tug, a little yearning to see something more of the world for himself.

He was a Georgia boy. This was his home and always would be but he felt like he’d be happy to step out into the wider world with Kit by his side. He figured, looking at her face as she recounted her stories, that he’d have to stretch his horizons, if he wanted to be more to her than a pleasant memory of her time on her travels in Georgia.

They spent a happy hour at lunch, chatting back and forth, in the most beautiful of surroundings. They knew they’d been lucky not to be interrupted yet but even after clearing away their picnic, Kit still seemed reticent to leave the view behind.

Daryl sat on a small bench in the corner of the viewing platform, gazing over at his own favourite view. Kit circuited the deck, soaking up every last detail and taking snapshots on her mobile as she did so. He watched her for a while but eventually allowed his gaze to wander over the distant hills and trees as she moved away.

He was surprised when he found her right next to him. He’d been in some kind of daze and somehow she’d managed to sneak right up on him but her hand on his shoulder had brought him around. He sat up straighter and began to reach down to collect their packs. He figured she was ready to make tracks. She wasn’t.

“Can I sit with you?” She asked.

There was obviously no room for both of them on the bench but she was so deliberate with her words that her meaning confused him for a split second. She didn’t give him time to reply or move for her to take the seat though. She gave him no time for anything but shock, as she sat in his lap, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

She kissed his bewildered face, right on the cheek. “That’s ‘Thank you for bringing me here’, in case you were wondering.” She smiled, inches from his own burgeoning grin.

“I ever tell you how much I like the way you ‘talk’ sometimes?” He replied, wrapping his hands around her waist.

Daryl was just considering asking her if he could give her a ‘Thank you’ for joining him, when she took the wind right out of his sails again.

This kiss was not chaste. This kiss was open and inviting. She didn’t offer her tongue but when Daryl’s brushed her bottom lip in response, she gave him full access and tentatively responded to his searching tongue with her own.

Daryl figured he wouldn’t have won any kissing competitions before he met her. His practice had been limited and mostly gained while dead drunk. He figured Kit didn’t seem like the kind of girl that’d be much of an expert herself either but together they were really setting the bar high now. He reached up to cup her cheek as he explored her sweet mouth and was overjoyed to feel that she was obviously just as enthusiastic as he was.

They kissed like rampant teenagers in heat. Neither had ever had an opportunity to actually be those teenagers. A sad state of affairs they seemed jointly determined to make up for now.

Kit couldn’t believe what was happening. What she had made happen. The taste of him, the smell of him and the feel of his body pressed against hers, his strong arms holding her close, stroking her face. It was overwhelming but at the same time, it was so comfortable and felt so right to her, all at the same time.

They only broke contact as they both became aware of dogs barking in the distance. Their peace would soon be shattered by other walkers. They’d been lucky to have so long, alone in this perfect spot and they knew it. They smiled sadly at their parting and rose, grabbing their bags and making their way to the stairway, hand in hand.

Their circuit route back to the truck took them back a different way, with other, lesser views to enjoy along the way. After lunch though, there was no pretense about their hand holding. Whenever the path was wide enough, they held hands. Whenever they stopped to admire the view, Daryl would slip his arm around her back, as she looked out at the miles of forest all around. And when he did so, Kit took the opportunity to curl her arm around him in return and angle her head up towards him, inviting kiss after glorious kiss.

She was almost sad to walk out onto the road and see the truck parked up, just a few metres away, two hours or so later. 

_______________

 

On their route home Daryl made a detour to a soul food place he’d been introduced to on a short lived stint on a road crew. His buddies on the crew had been regulars but it had been Daryl’s first introduction. He’d certainly grown up on southern comfort food, of course but this place had been something else and he couldn’t wait to show it all off to Kit.

As they pulled up and she finally realised he was going to introduce her to some proper home-cooked southern cuisine, she laughed excitedly and leant across to hug him briefly in thanks before getting out of the truck. He’d known it would be a hit with her. She was all about trying something new. Something authentic and it didn’t get much more authentic than Mama Jo’s soul food.

It was stripped back, basic and the tables were set cafeteria style, with well worn and mismatched table cloths. Old photos and road signs adorned the walls in a very ‘thrown together’ rather than a deliberately, curated 'city' way. It would also be a damn sight cheaper than last night’s meal and there was nothing on the menu that Daryl wasn’t looking forward to seeing her try.

Kit was caught between all the options she’d never seen on a menu before. They ordered everything she was desperate to give a try, between the two of them, so she could have a little of everything.

Fried chicken with biscuits and gravy and a savoury cobbler, with sides of collard greens, macaroni cheese and fried green tomatoes. Kit was obviously beside herself and more than happy to share between them. Smiling as she fed Daryl from her own fork and grinning even wider as he offered her a morsel from his. They drank ice tea and nodded in greeting to their neighbours, when they could bear to tear their eyes away from each other.

They were both far too full after half an hour, to contemplate another bite but they were offered a ‘doggy bag’ for the leftover greens, mac & cheese and fried green tomatoes, so they took the offered lifeline and didn’t force themselves to finish every bite. Remembering Kit’s fondness for dessert, Daryl asked for a takeout portion of peach cobbler and a couple of pecan Tessies for the road too.

“We can always finish ‘em tomorra if you ain’t up to it tonight.” He promised. “It’s a good start for tomorra’s picnic.” He crooned, with a crooked little smile that spoke of all his hopes for tomorrow’s picnic resembling the delights of today’s.

Kit was pretty sure she could promise a repeat performance. It had felt a little like jumping off a cliff, sitting on his lap and offering up her lips like that. She’d never felt so wanton or so vulnerable in her life but she was used to literally jumping off cliffs, she’d done just that several times before. This time had been even more scary, up front but the payoff had been a much more palpable high. She’d never felt as safe and comfortable on the end of a bungy cord or in a repelling safety harness, as she had in Daryl’s arms, on top of the world this afternoon.

The sun was setting fast as they drove the rest of the way back to town. Neither of them had realised how late it was but it was after eight and by the time they were approaching the town limits it was fully dark. Daryl didn’t want to call it a night just yet. He had visions of a goodnight kiss and an early return home. He wasn’t ready to leave her yet.

“Wanna see sumthin’ cool?” He asked.

“Always.” She smiled over, excitedly.

He laughed and took a sharp right turn. He seemed to be driving down an unmarked dirt track into a farmer’s field. Kit looked over questioningly as he parked up right in the middle of it.

“This is the old drive in cinema.” He explained. “Been closed for decades. Was closed long before we came to live here even but it’s never been sold. Family didn’t need the money I guess. Noone ever comes out here and there ain’t nuthin’ for miles.” He got out of the truck and Kit followed suit.

“Nuthin’ but them.” He pointed up and Kit followed his direction as he reached back into the truck and killed the lights.

Kit smiled in realisation. It was always amazing to be anywhere far from street lights and she’d enjoyed a few clear stargazing nights on the camp but there had always been lights and movement, noise and people around somewhere. It took a few seconds for the blackness to really develop, for her eyes to adjust and the galaxy to spring forward but there it was. The vast, unfathomable ocean of the milkyway, completely uninterrupted by light pollution or the sounds of human bustle.

She felt, rather than saw, Daryl climb up on the bonnet. He reached down for her and helped her up next to him. They laid back on the windscreen and gazed up at the stars. Mesmerised.

“It’s beautiful.” She breathed, reaching for his hand in the dark.

“Mmmh, sure is.” He replied, not entirely referring to the heavans above them, as he faced her in the inky blackness. “You know the constellations?” He asked.

“That’s a terrible chat up line.“ Kit giggled back. “Are you serious?”

“Yes I am.” He replied in a mock indignant tone. “I told you ‘bout uncle Kyle…. Well he brought back a shit tonne of tapes from the UK when he got home. One o’ those shows he taped was all about the stars an’ space an’ shit. Crazy old British dude with a monocle. Guy knew his crap about stars though and now so do I.”

“The Sky at Night?” She asked, sounding a little shocked. “You watched Patrick Moore on The Sky at Night?”

“Yeah, that’s him. You saw it too?”

“Hah, yeah once or twice I think, it was on for a hundred years or something… still on occasionally now, as far as I know. It was always pretty late though, so not much.” She smiled, picturing a little Daryl Dixon watching the ‘mad professor’ looking knight of the realm, wrapped in awe.

“My knowledge doesn’t stretch much further than Orion’s Belt, Casiopia, the Big Dipper and the North Star though.” She admitted, pointing each of them out. “So I’m all ears I guess…..Educate me.” She breathed, like a mock-bimbo.

She marvelled at his knowledge of the subject. He really had picked it all up from Sir Patrick and you could tell. There were references to the Greek stories but most of his knowledge was based in the scientific and he’d obviously picked up on the navigational elements, that would be of most use to him, easier than anything else.

Kit never worried about getting lost in the daytime herself, she could easily have navigated her way back to the road from Rabun Bald this afternoon if she’d had to. She definitely didn’t have enough skill to use the stars to perform the same trick, with any great degree of success though. She was pretty sure Daryl did.

He was just finishing off telling her how Earth would be toast without Jupiter, which was by far his favourite planet, keeping us safe from a whole mess of space debris. Kit couldn’t hold back any longer. She’d lost interest in heavenly bodies.

“You know what?” She asked, startling him as he hadn’t noticed her scootching so close, resting up on her arm to look right at him. “You’re amazing Daryl Dixon.”

He didn’t get a chance to respond, as she engulfed his mouth, for the second time today and knocked the wind right out of his sails all over again. At least, he figured, this meant he was definitely getting a goodnight kiss. Even if something else ruined the rest of the evening or their goodbye when he dropped her off, he’d gotten to taste her sweet lips again. And he hadn’t had to push, hadn’t even had to ask. She’d made all the running, so he knew for sure she actually, honest to god, liked him. Daryl settled in happily for a long, languorous makeout session on the bonnet of the truck and couldn’t think of a single place he’d rather be.


	11. Chapter 11

Merle had spent most of the day feeling pretty sorry for himself. He’d woken mid-morning and was a little surprised to find himself on his own bed. He didn’t remember getting home. Didn’t remember much of the day, or night, before either. Last thing he remembered from last night, assuming he hadn’t slept his way right around the clock and out the other side, was that pussy Trev wimping out of a chugging competition. He didn’t even know how he’d got to Trev’s. He had some vague inkling of shouting and someone threatening to call the cops or something. He shook his head to try and clear it and really wished he hadn’t.

He winced over at the side of the bed with the least light and was overjoyed to see a schooner of water and a half-used pack of advil on the night stand. Daryl must have got him home. Something sharp shot through him, entirely unconnected with the hangover, that might have been shame. It didn’t last. Why shouldn’t his baby brother take care of him now and then, if he’d had a few too many, or needed a ride home or something.

He forced his creaky carcass to sit up on the bed. He didn’t like to admit to feeling his age these days. Not in front of another human being anyway but sometimes he did have to quietly admit it to himself. God he felt old right now. He threw the advil and most of the water down his neck and sat on the side of the bed with his head in his hands, waiting for it to kick in.

From there it had been a quiet morning, of very quiet pursuits that could be done with the curtains closed. Like; taking a monumental shit, having a sit down shower in the tub, for about forty-five minutes and soaking his cereal in milk before attempting to eat it, on the sofa, in his boxer shorts, from a mixing bowl, with the only beer in the house to wash it down.  

Catching his reflection in the mercifully switched off TV, Merle groaned out a disgusted sigh and looked away. This was all the fault of those assholes on the trip. Trying to put one past a Dixon, like he wasn’t going to do nothing about it. And that Chrissy too. What a prick-tease she turned out to be.

He looked at the can in his hand. He’d been doing good too, till they’d all showed up and wrecked his progress. He had missed a drink though. More than the drugs really. He guessed it’d always been more about the booze with him. He was addicted. Had to admit it, at least the rehab had finally helped him see that. But he didn’t feel off the rails with the drugs. Not yet anyway.

What had it been so far? A couple of lines of coke at camp, a few poppers, maybe some speed at Trevs. Nothing major. No Oxy yet, none of that blue shit that really messed you up. Most of his ‘fun’ from the past two days had been on the back of a shit tonne of beer and a couple of bottles of whiskey.

Merle decided that he just needed to stock up on beer and weed and that’d keep him on the straight and narrow for a while. Weed was fine. He could handle weed. It chilled him out mostly. Sometimes made him a little paranoid but Daryl’d keep a lid on that. Might even join him for a joint. He used to before. It’d be nice to have company.

It finally occurred to him to wonder where Daryl was. He’d vaguely assumed that his brother had picked up some casual work or something. They did need money. He dragged himself back to the kitchen and looked for a note. Daryl usually left them stuck to the refrigerator.

“You might want to call Trev & apologise. Took some persuading to stop Jess calling the cops. I’ll be out all day. Back late. On the cell for emergencies. Try not to kill yourself. Daryl.”

Merle bristled at the inference that he wasn’t capable of taking care of himself but he kind of had to let that one pass, as he didn’t know what state he’d been in the night before. Not a great one if Jess had been threatening the law. She knew he was still on probation and she wasn’t that much of a bitch. He followed on with Daryl’s P.S.”

“P.S. Scott gave me the rest of the trip money. I took out your half of next month’s rent. The rest is in the cookie jar. Try not to blow it all in one day.”

Well now he was mad. At first elated. He hadn’t expected any more money. But then mad. He’d taken out the rent. Like Merle couldn’t be trusted with it. AND he was preaching about Merle not ‘blowing’ the rest in one day. Like he was leaving a note for a five year old who was gonna spend it all down the candy store right away. Asshole.

Merle got dressed and pocketed the cash. $50 wouldn’t get that far but it’d buy him some weed and beer and that’d do he reckoned. He’d head over to little Pete’s and they’d spend the day shooting the shit, as long as his old lady didn’t get in the way. Merle crumpled the note into the trash and headed for the door.

_______________

 

Nine hours later, Merle and little Pete ran out of the pool hall under something of a cloud. Merle had done pretty well on his $50. He’d put on a few bets, won a few, lost a couple but he’d stopped before it ruined his chances of scoring some weed later. He was up so far and he and Little Pete treated themselves to a couple of drinks with the winnings.

They’d eaten fried chicken and scored a few ounces from the kid with the stupid hat on fifth. They’d tried out the merchandise, right there in the parking lot at the 7-11, next to their favourite drinking hole, with some of the guys they’d hung out with the night before. Some of it was coming back to Merle now, with the benefit of medicinal intervention. He was pretty sure it was Trev that owed him the apology.

More drinks were had and more fried chicken too. Little Pete started bitching about being tired, as it got dark and they set off towards home. They’d gotten a lift into town but no one they knew was sober enough to drive legally now and those that would have still offered, couldn’t remember where they’d parked. Merle wanted to walk anyway. He still had $20 in his pocket and there was the pool hall on the way.

Little Pete and Gunner hadn’t taken too much persuading. They both liked to rack ‘em up now and then. They were all guilty of vastly over-estimating their abilities though. Even Merle, who was actually pretty good at pool and had sharked a room a time or two in his youth, was worse than useless after a whole afternoon of drinking and smoking weed until it leaked out of his pores.

The shit hit the fan around ten-thirty. Gunner had broken off earlier and drunk himself into a stupor at the bar but Merle and little Pete were in the firing line, when a misjudged grift went sideways. They raced out into the parking lot and made a run for it in the direction of home. The guys they’d been playing obviously weren’t bothered enough for a foot chase and their little getaway sprint came to a wheezing knee gripping close about a hundred yards down the street.

Little Pete caught up with Merle after a few seconds and though he still couldn’t get his breath to say a single word, he watched Merle pull out a pre-rolled joint and light up and he took a toke when offered.

“Oh man.” He wheezed. “I’m getting’ too old for that shit.”

They both scratched out a laugh at the truth of it and made their winding way down the street. They were just coming up on the convenience store that marked the end of town-proper. Merle knew it was only a mile’s walk from that store home. He figured that wasn’t too bad. He checked his pockets for change. He was pretty hungry by now and hoped they had enough between them for a couple of twinkies.

“Hey.” Little Pete nudged his shoulder as he tried to count quarters. “Aint that your truck?”

Merle looked up to see it pull in in front of the store. Daryl got out of the driver’s side and someone else got out the other side but he couldn’t make out who it was. He was pretty toasted, he had to admit but he wasn’t toasted enough not to spot the shape of a woman when he saw one.

The woman, whoever she was and Daryl both strolled to the store front and went in. Merle lost interest in twinkies right then. He knew there was a six pack in the lock up in the back of that truck and he prayed there was still half a bottle of Jack from their last fishing trip too. There was plenty of food at home, if they could be bothered to cook it when they got there. He gave  little Pete a playful slap on the belly and set off at a run. Fishing his keys out of his pants pocket and waving them behind him at his friend as he ran, laughing all the way.

“Oh man, Daryl’s gon’ be pissed at you.” Little Pete laughed as he got to the truck.

“You want a lift or not?” Merle responded, getting in and firing up the engine as he spoke.

Little Pete almost fell out of the passenger door as the truck took off and Merle barely missed the sign pole by the exit. It was the slowest, most juddery getaway in heist-history.


	12. Chapter 12

Daryl sighed as he watched it happen. They’d turned towards the door, with their purchases stowed, just in time to see Merle and Little Pete arrive at the truck. If he’d really tried, Daryl could have raced out there and put a stop to it but he really couldn’t be bothered.

“Wow.” Kit giggled by his side at the near miss with the pole. Suddenly regretting her levity, she shot a glance at Daryl.

“It’s OK.” He shook his head back. “His truck. His funeral. Ain’t my problem tonight.” He smiled and opened the door for her.

“You’ll have to call a cab, my cell’s in the truck.” He laughed.

Kit pulled out her phone regretfully and was shocked to find she had a message. Scott was the only other person with her number, so she figured she’d better see what he had to say.

It was Donna. Scott had passed on her number so she could invite Kit to lunch at her place the next day. She had her kids visiting and wanted them to meet her. Donna’s voice carried and Daryl had heard the invitation as clearly as she had.

“You should go.” He said, a little sadly. “Ain’t like we’re gonna be getting’ nowhere fast tomorra now anyway.”

“I could sort out a hire car in the morning.” She answered. “We could still go to the lake.”

“Ain’t nothin’ I want more ‘n that. You know it.” He replied. “But I don’t know what I’m gonna be cleanin’ up after tomorra now anyway.” He waved vaguely in the direction of home.

“Hmm, no – I suppose not.” She sighed.

“You should be getting’ on back.” He concluded, in a resigned tone. “Call a cab, I’ll wait with ya ‘til it gets here.”

“Orrr – do you want to just walk back to mine together?” Kit asked, in a fit of desperation. “I’m not tired yet and it’s only half a mile or so.”

“Uhhh.” Daryl looked shocked and obviously didn’t know what to think.

Kit had to admit it was a pretty ‘forward’ proposal and that hadn’t really been her intention but she just didn’t want to send him home to Merle’s craziness yet. She wanted to be safe-haven for him. Just for a while and she didn’t intend to invite him into her bed or anything. She figured she’d better make that clear, quickly.

“We can just hang out for a bit until he’s settled down.” She nodded in the general direction Merle had taken. “You can call a cab from my place later.”

“Uh yeah, alright.” Daryl responded, happier now he had the promise of a little longer with her and at least knew where he stood. “Would be nice to avoid that for a bit.” He nodded in the same direction and they turned and set off towards town.

___________________

 

The walk was their least interesting of the day so far, as far as the view was concerned. Dirty sidewalks, grungy apartment complexes and closed up strip malls were no competition against the hikes they’d taken around Rabun Bald. The weeds, forcing themselves through cracked concrete were no match for the untouched natural beauty of the woods today. When they looked up the orange glow of the street lights faded the milkyway to nothing and only the North star could make itself even remotely seen in the opaque sky.

Both walkers were quite happy with their last half mile of the day though. Daryl was just overjoyed that she wanted to keep him around a little longer and he was hopeful he’d get another kiss before they said their last goodnights. Kit’s stomach was churning with a little more worry.

She didn’t want to send Daryl home to chaos right now. That had been true but it hadn’t been the end of it. She didn’t really want to send him home at all. But if she asked him to stay, would he want more than she was ready to give? Or would she give more than she was really prepared to give, in the heat of the moment?

She decided she’d have to ask and she’d have to set boundaries and she’d have to explain why. She’d never told anyone. He was the only person she’d ever felt like she really needed to tell. She just wasn’t sure how she was going to get the words out. And she wasn’t sure how he’d take them.

In the meantime there was no way she was having that conversation on the street.

“Is Merle always like this?” She asked, clutching for a topic that might keep them occupied until they got back.

“Yeah, pretty much.” Daryl replied. Wasn’t so bad when he was younger. It was mostly just blow-outs at the weekends. He’d just get wrecked when he had the chance. Now he just gets wrecked ‘cause it’s a day with a Y in it.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“I guess it’s in our DNA or some shit. Dad was a grade A nasty drunk the whole time, even when he wasn’t drunk and mama wasn’t much better. She wasn’t nasty with it but she was an alcoholic I guess you’d say. I didn’t realise it at the time, I was too young but she drank herself to death in a way. Dad did too but everyone was pretty happy about that by the time he actually managed to pull it off.”

“Jesus.” Kit hadn’t meant to open up old wounds. She reached for Daryl’s hand and was glad that he accepted the comfort with a wan smile.

“Merle’s somewhere in between the two I guess.” He mused. “He aint really a nasty drunk but it don’t exactly bring out his good side neither. He’s just kind of a thoughtless asshole that thinks the world owes him sumthin’.”

“Right.” Kit nodded, thinking to herself that it sounded like the drink was basically just amplifying sober Merle’s personality in general.

“It’s not so bad as long as it’s just the drink but it tends to lead to more these days.” He risked a look in her direction as he went on. “I mean, to start with it was just weed, you know, an’ that ain’t so bad. I used to join in myself but he got in with people, you know, dealers.” Daryl shook his head at the memory of those days and all the close calls with some really dodgy characters.

“I’m ashamed to say I bowed out.” He went on. “I should ‘a bin there to watch out for him but I was out of my depth. Those people, they were unpredictable, off the chain sometimes an’ Merle was up for it but it just wasn’t my thing. I got more of that from our dad than I cared to live through again. I backed off as they started getting’ us going on heavier stuff. An’ I was lucky…. I could. I think Merle probably knew, in the cold light of day, that he was in over his head too but I guess it was harder for him to quit or sumthin’. He just got in further. Started getting’ involved with the dealin’ an’ shit. Spent some time in the pen when he got caught.”

“Bloody hell.” Kit exclaimed. “I mean, I knew he’d been to prison, Donna mentioned it but I had no idea it was to do with dealing.”

“Yeah, well… kind of… this last time anyway.”

“He seemed to have it under control at camp until that last day?”

“We got him into a programme after his last stint in the pen.” Daryl explained. “Took some fuckin’ doin’ too but he actually wanted to get clean this time, so we worked for it. Got a grant that covered some of it. I paid for the rest with savings. He was doin’ real good until the camp.”

“Oh god Daryl I’m so sorry.”

“Naaah – ain’t noone’s fault but his own.” He looked over and tugged on her hand encouragingly. “An’ it ain’t all lost yet… I don’t think he can be back on the hard stuff yet.” He nodded his head back in the direction they’d come from. “That little stunt was just booze an’ maybe some speed or somethin’… too high functioning for anythin’ else….. Booze ain’t so bad…. We can deal with booze…. Just need to steer him away from the harder stuff.”

It all sounded pretty hard to Kit. A hard bloody life. Not for Merle, she did pity him of course but she pitied his brother’s position far more. What it must be like to feel beholden to and responsible for a dumbass, bone-headed, junky of a brother like Merle. She felt suddenly quite fortunate not to be encumbered with any family commitments herself. She'd never seen it as a fortunate thing before but at least she didn't have to put up with anyone else's shit just because she shared some blood with them. If her friends started acting like shits and she couldn't be arsed with it she could just walk away. Daryl couldn't do that with Merle.

As they approached the apartments, Kit began to get butterflies, trying to form the words to invite him in, for more than a cursory few minutes,  without being too forward or creating expectations. In the end, she needn’t have worried.

“You mind if I use your bathroom, ‘fore I call a cab?” He asked.

“No, of course. I could do with a bathroom break myself.” She replied, as she unlocked the door and invited him in. “Go ahead.”

“Well, ladies first, I insist.” He answered before she had a chance to object.

She smiled and set down her daypack on the way to the bathroom. “I’ll be quick.” She called, leaving Daryl to make himself comfortable in the empty room.

The cleaner had been in at some point and Kit kicked herself for not leaving the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign in place. She’d been a chambermaid herself for a while, on her travels and knew what a thankless task it was. The least she could do was to be as little trouble to this one as she could manage.

As Kit washed her hands and reached for the towel, she was formulating plans of how to approach the conversation she needed to broach. She figured the first step was to let the poor man take a leak though and as she hurried to pull the door open she was shocked to find the man himself stood right in the doorway. Even more shocked to see what he held in his hand.


	13. Chapter 13

“Oh.” She exclaimed, her hand shooting to her mouth and her brain pedalling overtime. “You startled me…. Ummm, I’m glad you found that. I err, I forgot to give it to you yesterday. It was on the line at camp when I got back the other day. Figured I’d give it to you at the next one but I got my chance earlier than planned.” She flashed him what she hoped was a winning smile and stepped aside to let him pass.

“Mmmh.” Daryl nodded, eyeing her carefully as he passed her in the doorway.

‘Fuuuuuuuck’ she screamed, in the privacy of her head, as the door closed behind him. The maid must have fished it out of the bed clothes as she made the bed up this morning and left it all neatly folded on her pillow, just as she would have done herself, a million years ago in another hotel on the other side of the planet.

This would make it SO much harder to ask him to stay AND put the breaks on successfully at the same time. She’d been sleeping in his shirt for fucksake. What could that mean, to any man, except ‘I fancy the fucking arse off you…. Game on!’

Daryl looked over at the folded shirt as he washed his hands. She’d slept in that shirt. He could smell her on it. Not just the scent of being shoved in a bag full of her worn clothes. It was the warm, unguarded, skin on cotton scent that only something worn and warmed against naked skin, all night, could pick up. He tried not to think about her warm, naked skin and failed.

She’d been mortified that he’d found it. She must know that he knew. She’d made it clear that she liked him already though, why would she be so mortified by his finding the shirt? He analysed his surroundings. Tiny examples of basic, travel friendly toiletries. Just enough for a few weeks. She was organised. A planner by nature. Self sufficient. He’d disrupted her plans, her life, just as much as she’d disrupted his. She wasn’t used to being de-railed and she needed control. Needed it more than Daryl did, he reckoned.

Fine. He’d fucked up her plans, exposed her little secret by finding the shirt but he could still give her back control. The shirt confirmed that she felt something for him at least. More than she’d intended for him to know about. She’d already given him far more than he’d realistically expected to get in the time they’d had, from a woman like her. A woman of her calibre. A woman who could surely do better than him, if she wanted to. He knew he was lucky that she seemed to have some kind of feelings for him already and he had no intention of doing anything that might fuck that up long term. The least he could do was let her control the pace. Give her back the power and control she needed to be comfortable.

He could wait. Now he knew that, if he played his cards right, there might really be something worth waiting for – that she might actually be persuaded to make a little space in her life for him somewhere, sometime.

He found her pacing the room on his return. Worrying the skin around her finger nail. She span around at the sound of the door and he saw her winding herself up, screwing up all of her courage to say something. To explain something that he didn’t need to hear. He put out a hand to stop her before she started.

“Look.” He began. “I know you prob’ly got a whole speech worked out by now but I don’t need it. I know you slept in my shirt, you know I know, it don’t matter. It don’t make no difference to nuthin’ an’ I ain’t takin’ it as any kind of green light, alright?”

He placed the shirt gently on the end of the bed and was glad to see that, although he’d knocked the wind out of her sails, she did seem a little relieved.

“You keep it. I got plenty an’ it’s kind o’ nice to think that you find some kind o’ comfort in wearin’ it. I hope you’ll take it with ya to Texas. I hope it makes ya miss me a little.” He smiled a little ruefully, catching her eye and making her laugh with a little blush. “An’ I hope you want to see the real thing more for it when ya get back…. That’s all.” He finished, closing a little of the gap between them and holding out his hand.

She stepped forward, to Daryl’s immense relief and took the offered hand, reaching for the other one while she was at it but still struggling to meet his eye.

“Thank you.” She began, holding him faster as he began to object. “No really. I guess it’s pretty obvious that I like you but I couldn’t have expected you to get that I need more time. I don’t know how you knew that.” She pondered, finally meeting his eyes with a little questioning look. “But you do and I’m grateful. I can’t go much further than what we’ve already done today. Not yet. It might be a while.”

“Don’t matter.” He mumbled urgently, touching her forehead with his own.

“It does because I swear to god, for the first time, literally ever, I actually want it to.” She sighed out the words in frustration now.

Daryl pulled back a little at that, with a question burning from his eyes that he daren’t ask.

“I was little.” She replied to the un-asked question, looking away and avoiding the abject horror her words were causing behind those same eyes. “It wasn’t an adult or anything. Older kids.” She shook her head. “Long time ago. Anyway, I never had any family or anything to confide in. It just made me…. I don’t know… insular….protective of myself. I didn’t trust anyone much. Never let anyone in. Not really. Not far.”

She looked up suddenly and caught his devastated stare. She smiled and it broke Daryl’s heart. “I never wanted to let anyone in until I met you. I want to now… it’s just going to take me a while to …. I don’t know.”

Daryl shook his head, raising his hand to her cheek and caressing it softly. “You’re the strongest, bravest person I ever met in my life.” He whispered hoarsely. “I reckon you’re worth waitin’ for but honest to god you take all the time you need. I don’t wanna rush ya. Don’t want you worryin’ bout nothin’.Just the fact you don’t mind me kissin’ on ya now ‘n then, gonna keep me more ‘n happy ‘til you’re good an’ ready sweetheart. Honest to fuckin’ god.”

Kit had to laugh at that and with a shared wave of relief, their lips met and the bargain was sealed. Kit was back in control of the reins and it tasted good.

As they broke apart, long minutes later, Daryl cleared his throat and pulled away with a little difficulty. “I’d uh… I’d better get going. Let you get your beauty sleep for Donna’s party thing.”

He moved to let go of her but Kit wouldn’t release him that easily. “Ummm, actually…. I was thinking.” She began. Daryl looked at her quizzically but waited for her to finish.

“Thing is, I’d never sleep, thinking of what kind of craziness you were walking back into at home… you know.”

Daryl opened his mouth to respond but Kit cut him off before he could reassure her and ruin the excuse. “So I was thinking… I mean…It’d be better to wait until they’ve calmed down a bit… gone to sleep at least wouldn’t it?”

“Uh, I guess. If you don’t mind me hangin’ out a bit longer?” He replied, his hopes raising with every syllable.

“Mmmm, yeah. If you want…..Or” She smiled, nodding shyly towards the spare bed. “I’ve plenty of room and there’s a complementary toothbrush in the bathroom…. If you want to stay over?”

____________________

Daryl could not believe his luck. He figured it might be worth buying a lottery ticket on the way home, ‘cause it looked like he was having the lucky streak of his entire life all at once. If anywhere had been open yet, he might have done it.

He’d told Kit he’d get a cab but he’d known, before he left, that he’d need the walk to clear his head and get himself ready for what he might be walking into. As he walked the first mile through town, the distance seemed to pass by in seconds as he was walking on air and recalled every moment that had passed between them during the night.

She’d offered her spare bed but as it turned out, it was still pristine as Daryl left. They’d started their little makeout session, after getting themselves comfortable and then settling down on her bed to have a little midnight feast, comprised of some of the leftovers from their earlier meal. The tassies and cobbler had gone down particularly well. Kit had a sweet tooth and Daryl banked that nugget for later.

It hadn’t taken long for one kind of hunger to be sated completely, while another reared its head and lead to some playful touches before Kit made it very clear that she was up for some more of what they’d started on the hood of the truck a couple of hours previously. That had been pretty much the end of any kind of conversation, or indeed any pretence that Daryl was going to be asked to vacate the bed at any point.

He didn’t know how long they’d lain there, wrapped in each other’s tight embrace, lips locked and satisfied moans all that could be heard. He guessed an hour or two before they’d actually drifted off to sleep. Probably only ten minutes or so before her hands had started to wander and she’d made it pretty clear that his were welcome to as well.

She’d shucked off her jeans at some point and her over shirt had been gone already. Daryl had pulled off his own overshirt while she dealt with her pants but he left his own vest shirt and cargo pants in place. He figured he needed to maintain some kind of barrier, he was already having trouble hiding his ‘excitement’ and didn’t want to freak the poor girl out.

Once they were both more comfortably attired they’d fallen into each other again and over-excited hands began to explore skin that had barely seen the light of day for years, let alone experienced the intimate touch of another human being. This had been entirely new territory for Daryl, as well as Kit.

He’d never given much of a shit about any of the women who’d wandered through his field of vision. Of those women that he had bothered with enough to actually have sex, he could honestly say he could only confidently name a hand full and only a couple of those had been much more than a brief, one or two night stand kind of thing. He was pretty sure he’d never cared enough to be able to pick any of them out of a line up by touch alone.

He’d know Kit’s curves, her smell, the texture of her skin, the frequency of her sighs, the taste of her lips, any little part of her, absolutely anywhere. He’d memorised everything of her that he’d come into contact with so far. He just hadn’t ever met anyone that he connected with. Not like this. Not like Kit. She was something special and Daryl was discovering the joys of real passion and an honest to god makeout session, right along with her.

As he opened his own body up to her attention, he wondered if he’d be brave enough to tell her about his scars before she saw them. Like she’d been brave with him tonight. He thought he would. With Kit, he would. He definitely wanted to get to that point with her. For there to be no barriers and nowhere to hide from her gaze. He wanted to share himself with her, as he wanted her to share all of herself with him. The scars were part of that. He didn’t know how long it might take them to get to that physical level but he was damn sure that with Kit, he wanted to find out. And honestly, with those perfect little hands running over his chest and his arms, he felt like he was practically there already. He just didn’t want to break the mood.

In the morning, he’d woken to the unfamiliar weight of a woman’s head resting on his chest and her soft body stretched against his own. His hand was on her waist and the other was resting on the leg she’d stretched across his hip. The skin of that leg was silky smooth and as he caressed it without conscious thought as he woke, he began to become aware that his dick was rock hard and trying desperately to escape his cargo pants.

Well that was new. He hadn’t woken with an erection of this epic magnitude since he was a teenager probably. It actually hurt, it was so fucking hard. He tried to regulate his breathing and think of the dullest things he possibly could. It was all to absolutely no avail, with her soft flesh moulded against him and her large breasts squashed deliciously against his side. It was a pretty desperate predicament, to wake with such an obvious hard on, next to a woman who had a history of sexual abuse. He really didn’t want to freak her out with this and although he was hardly in possession of a ‘monster’, he was pretty sure that his specimen was more than big enough to scare the shit out of a woman with no adult sexual experience at all.

Luckily, it was long minutes before Kit started to stir from sleep herself, by which time, his throbbing cock had subsided to something more manageable. More of a ‘semi’. Easily disguised for now by angling his position or just distracting her attention further north.

“Mornin’ beautiful.” He whispered, before she had a chance to fully come around and take in her surroundings and Daryl’s predicament.

“Hmmm, good morning.” She smiled as she sleepily looked up into his face and instantly reached up to pick up where they’d left off, with a slow, comfortable kiss.

By the time he’d left her door, having kissed her sweet mouth and neck at least a hundred times since he’d woken up, they’d talked through their plans. Daryl would go home and deal with whatever was going on there, sending Kit updates as soon as he could, to let her know he was OK. Kit would organise a hire car for the next day and go to Donna’s thing today. They didn’t anticipate either of them being free tonight to be together but would meet up the following day to continue their tour of Georgia and ‘other’ things.

It was hell, dragging himself away from her but Daryl smiled as he walked out of the town limits. Just thinking about those ‘other’ things and the little blush in her cheeks as she’d said the word, would help him get through whatever today had to throw at him.

As he approached the house he allowed himself to think of something other than Kit, for the first time today. He noted the crazy angle of the truck, abandoned in the vicinity of the drive and poked his head in to see if his phone was anywhere to be seen. The keys were still in the ignition. Daryl sighed and parked the vehicle up a little closer to the property and off the actual street, fishing his phone out of the passenger’s foot-well, before he got out. It was almost out of battery but there was just enough juice to send off a quick text to let Kit know he was home and he’d need to charge the phone before he could call or text again.

He took a breath and opened the front door with a little apprehension. Nothing. Well, not exactly nothing. Nothing out of the realms of expectation at least.

The kitchen looked like it had been turned over by ravenous giants or something and the low rumble of Little Pete’s rattling snore, identified the gap behind the couch as his chosen sleeping spot. Looking to his right, Daryl could make out Merle’s booted foot hanging off the end of the part of his bed visible from the open door. His other boot was currently floating in the sink, so Daryl figured it was pretty good going that he’d actually managed to find his own bed.

He shook his head and made his way to the bathroom. Beyond the usual missed target practice around the can, there wasn’t too much to worry about in there so he ran the shower and took a long hard look in the mirror.

Well… he’d be damned if he knew what she saw in him but the guy in the glass sure looked a lot more relaxed and content than he had the last time he’d paid him much attention. Damn sight hornier too.

He felt a little dirty, beating himself off in the shower, at the memory of her silky skin and the taste of her big beautiful lips. The soft curves of her body and the crush of her perfect breasts were what drove him over the edge. He stifled an orgasmic grunt into the crook of his elbow and by the time he stopped seeing stars, all the evidence had washed away down the drain. He wrapped the towel around himself brushed his teeth and shaved before going in search of some clean-ish clothes.

“Hey Daryl.”


	14. Chapter 14

Kit became suddenly very aware, the second she lost sight of Daryl behind the main building, that she was standing in the door way, in just a t-shirt, with her legs out and everything. After a quick look around, to check the coast was clear, she laughed at herself as she closed the door.

After a while, she gave up the idea of getting going with her day right away. Waking up to Daryl, right there in her arms, ready with kisses and roaming hands. With the passion she’d felt crashing over her in waves the night before, picking right back up where it had left off.

Kit climbed back into bed and breathed in his scent, still clinging to his pillow, as she reached down the length of her body. She really wished him back then. It surprised her how comfortable last night’s intimacies had been but it surprised her even more that she actually regretted not being brave enough to let herself go even further.

Her hands seemed poor substitutes after his but with the help of recent memory and that delicious scent, she felt a definite buzz before pulling her hand away in shock as she heard herself moan his name. She shook herself then and forced herself to get on with things.

Daryl’s text came through as Kit collected some clothes and headed for the bathroom. At least he’d be back in touch now, once his battery was charged and at least it showed that Merle hadn’t been wasted enough to wrap himself and the truck around a tree. She hoped things wouldn’t be too rough at the Dixon household today and wished Daryl luck as she set off to find the nearest car rental place and sort out her transport before heading to Donna’s.

Three hours later, after a successful morning at the car rental place and a lonely brunch at ‘their’ diner, Kit made her way back to her digs for her pick up by Donna. Her family wouldn’t arrive until later in the afternoon and Kit had offered to help prep for the massive barbeque they had planned.

\----------------

Donna just couldn’t wait any longer. She’d been biting her tongue since picking Kit up an hour previously. She hadn’t wanted to lay straight into her again right away, she’d hoped it would all come out naturally but Kit seemed to be looking for distraction. Any time Donna had asked about what she’d been up to the past couple of days, she’d just dismissed it with a vague answer and turned the conversation back around to asking about her kids or how big of a salad she should make or how many lemons she should juice for the lemonade.

Donna couldn’t give a shit about the lemonade. Her ingrate family would probably go straight for the Gatorade in the fridge anyway. Donna wanted to know what was going on with Daryl. Tilly was the daughter of one of Donna’s old friends and she’d checked on her little English friend by asking if Tilly had seen her at the diner she knew was closest to Kit’s digs.

She had hoped, of course. Her little interference in town and forcing them together had seemed like a bit of harmless fun at the time but really she had hoped that one or the other of them might take the initiative and make more of it. Well apparently it had paid off big time. When she’d spoken to Tilly yesterday, she’d confirmed not only that the two had had a very friendly lunch together that very day but that she’d been roped in to help Daryl figure out where to take Kit for a ‘first date’ that night too.

She’d actually let out a little squeal of joy at that. A little more detective work and a chat with everyone’s favourite barman, as well as a subtle bit of conversation with the desk clerk at her hotel, when she’d had trouble reaching Kit on her cell, had confirmed that the date seemed to have gone well and may have lead to more. Now Donna was desperate for details.

She didn’t really need any help today. Her family would have been quite happy with a few bottles of something soft, to go with a lot of bottles of something a bit harder and whatever store bought slaw she threw on the table by the meat. Kit was here so early because Donna wanted to pump her for as much information as she could before her family arrived and monopolised her time. Kit wasn’t cooperating though, which lead to desperate measures being called for.

“If you’ve got some chickpeas I could do us a quick hummus if you like?” Kit asked, looking around and struggling to see what else might need doing.

“Alright, look.” Donna put down the potato salad and turned to give Kit her full attention and demanding Kit’s in return. “I know you had lunch with Daryl after he took ya to your hotel and I know you went out to Rudy’s together that night. I don’t wanna pry and if you don’t wanna tell me nuthin’ I guess I’ll be a little butt hurt but I’ll get over it. I just wanted you to know I know an’ I just hope you two had a nice date?”

Kit was so shocked by the outburst that she didn’t even have time to throw up her usual walls for this kind of thing. This really was a small town and she really couldn’t quite believe how much a person she hadn’t seen for two days could know about what she’d thought was such a private, personal thing between her and Daryl.

“Uhh.” She managed.

Donna shook her head at her own brazen nosiness but reached for a bottle of gin and a couple of glasses. She fixed their drinks while Kit had a chance to get the feeling back in her extremities and handing her a glass, she steered them both out to the swing seat at the end of the deck.

“Sorry honey,” she began, softly now “It’s a small town and I know most everyone in it.”

She gave Kit a little shrug of apology as they sank into the seat and carried on. “I don’t know much about Daryl though, not really. Mostly just mildly unsavoury stuff about his brother. No one’s ever talked much about Daryl. I’d seen him around here an’ there, vaguely knew the name. Bits of jobs for people I knew sometimes. Never anything direct or from personal experience until the camp. That’s new for me I guess. Makes him something of an enigma to me I suppose.”

She looked over at Kit and was relieved to see her take a gulp of her gin. “He seemed like a nice fella to me… I mean beyond being a damn fine slice of ass and useful in the woods and having some potential for the team etcetera… seemed nice too. And you liked him and he liked you so…. I’m sorry if I stuck my nose in, I’m sorry if I should have let you both just figure it out yourselves…. I just wanted to give ya a little shove in the right direction is all….. and it’s fine if you want me to shut up about it and I promise I’ll stop checkin’ up on ya. I just like ya both an’ I wanted to see ya both happy is all.”

Kit took another gulp of her gin and waited a minute until she could trust her voice.

“Thank you.” She said, turning to donna and making eye contact briefly as she said it.

“That for promisin’ to shut up about it?” She asked with a laugh.

“No. For the other day. For getting him to take me to the hotel.” Kit replied. “I suppose it was obvious but I was so flustered at the time I didn’t realise how deliberate that was on your part. I should thank you for that… so… thank you.”

Donna smiled back. Well it must be going pretty well then, she thought. “You’re very welcome honey.”

________________

“Jesus, how much did you fuckin’ give him?” Little Pete asked, poking Daryl in the chest.

Both he and Merle had been up by the time Daryl had emerged from the bathroom, although Little Pete had been the only one capable of speech just yet. While Daryl got himself dressed, Merle had stuck his head under the shower for a few minutes while Little Pete made coffee and by the time Daryl had emerged again, after putting his phone on to charge, both of the other men were looking and feeling more human.

“Hope your lady friend wasn’t too mad about losin’ her ride home?” Merle asked with a dry, scratch of a laugh as Daryl poured out a cup for himself.

He ignored the question. “I moved the truck onto the drive. You left it parked in the damn street again.”

“Sorry if we messed up your night Daryl.” Little Pete put in. “We were in a silly mood I guess.”

Daryl caught his eye briefly. ‘Off your fuckin’ heads you mean.’ He communicated with a look before shaking it off. It didn’t matter.

Merle caught the little flash of nonchalance and pounced. “Aaaaawwwh, no…. Petey…. We didn’t wreck nuthin’ did we lil brother.” He crooned, covering the distance in seconds and trying to catch Daryl’s fidgety eyes as he reached around his shoulder. “That girl got her ride an’ you got yer pecker wet anyway huh?” He asked.

Daryl shrugged off the arm and walked around to the only chair left at the dining table, to try and drink his coffee in comparative peace.

“He is lookin’ a little tuckered out aint he Petey?... poor soldier.” Merle crooned in his singsong voice. “Bin dick-deep, puttin’ it to some nice little piece o’ pussy all night I bet.”

Little Pete smiled along, saluting Daryl with his coffee. He guessed he must look pretty tired, he sure felt it now he didn’t have the constant electrical surge of being near Kit to keep him energised. Coffee was a poor substitute. He didn’t like this kind of talk, especially about Kit but he figured if Merle had recognised her last night he’d have said something already, so he just shut up and let them be dumbasses about it.

“That’s the Dixon way, ya know… give it to ‘em good… leave ‘em pantin’ for more… get the fuck out before they wake up..huh?” Merle looked from one to the other for a laugh and got one from Little Pete. “Haha. Nice goin’ lil brother, knew ya had it in ya.”

Daryl scowled at his coffee cup and rested his head on his fist.

“She’s real pretty too, that English girl.” Little Pete nodded, taking a sip of his own coffee.

Daryl’s heart sank as he sat up at the reference to Kit. How the fuck did Little Pete know her, he thought for a second before remembering that he worked at the damn store where they’d picked up provisions before the camp. He’d seen AND heard her, as they’d collected the crates together on the day they met. Fuck.

“English girl?” Merle asked, shooting a look between Little Pete and Daryl. “Ummm,.that…wassername…Kit?” He asked Daryl, who was now very decidedly avoiding his eye.

“You get a nice little ride off o’  that girl from camp?” Merle smiled, seeming very impressed, as he used his cupped hands to emphasise the main thing he remembered about her.

Daryl couldn’t take it anymore and slammed his cup down. “Ain’t like that.” He snarled. “She ain’t like that, so don’t talk about her like she is, alright. She’s a nice girl.”

“Can’t be that nice if she’s out after dark with a Dixon boy huh?” Merle retorted, getting another laugh from Little Pete.

“You bin out all night ain’t ya?” Merle asked and Daryl couldn’t deny it. “She must ‘a put sumthin’ out fer the Tom Cat huh?” Another laugh.

“Ain’t none of your damned business.” Daryl hissed, returning to his coffee.

Merle had let it drop but he could tell there was something’ rotten in Denmark about this whole thing. Daryl never liked talkin’ about his conquests but he didn’t outright deny them either usually. He’d spent the whole night with this girl and Merle began to wonder how much of the previous day too. What did it mean that he was denying getting in her panties. How far did she have her claws in him after just a few hours?

They’d sat around bitching about how tired they all were and Little Pete had made everyone eggs and bacon. Merle had been in charge of the coffee and everyone had been up for another cup. Daryl got his last and it had taken him an age to get around to drinking it. Little Pete had been on the verge of the giggles all the way through breakfast.

He poked Daryl’s chest again. “He did seem tired.” He commented. “It’ll do him good… a nice long nap.” He looked up to see Merle coming out of his own room with something behind his back.

“Yeah, he’ll be alright, just ain’t used to it no more. Should be out for a couple hours at least.”

“What you got there?” Little Pete asked, trying to get a look behind Merle’s back.

Merle whipped his arm around and brandished the implement for him, brushing a few errant hairs off as he did so. “I got an idea.” He grinned with a scratchy little school boy giggle and a devilish glint in his eye.   


	15. Chapter 15

The ‘kids’ were fun. Donna’s daughter Ruby and her ‘best friend’ (who was obviously her girlfriend) Nita, were at college in Atlanta and tended to visit (always together) a couple of times throughout semester. They were arty and scruffy and right up Kit’s street. Her son Jay was a contractor and had moved out of state two years previously. He’d only managed a couple of visits since, so his arrival, with his new fiancé Elena in tow, was an especially big deal. The addition of the couple who lived next door, as well as a couple of Ruby and Jay’s old friends and the place was rammed.

Donna and Lou were beside themselves with happiness and with so many youngsters to mother, Donna was in her element. Kit was happy to finally have the spotlight off herself but she was strangely glad that she’d had a chance to talk a little too. She hadn't realised how much she needed to tell someone how amazing it was to connect with someone. With Daryl.

Donna hadn’t needed any details really, she’d been happy enough just to know that Kit and Daryl were indeed into each other and planning to spend the next few days together before Kit had to fly off to Texas. She’d stopped asking for specifics after Kit had gone fire engine red when asked if Daryl was a decent kisser at least.

Sticking to safer subjects, Donna had asked about their plans and made a couple of suggestions for places they might like to go on their ‘dates’. Some good hiking trails and fishing spots nearby, most of which Daryl probably knew already and some ideas for places to eat in town, that he probably wouldn't. Then the family descended and they’d barely exchanged a word since but every now and then Kit would catch Donna winking at her from across the room.

Kit had made small talk with Jay and the 'scared little wabbit' that was Elena. It was unfair because it was obviously a tense time, meeting the new in-laws but they seemed pretty beige to her. The friends were trying to get Jay to act his shoe size but it wasn’t working and Kit had to admire his resolve to support Elena. Now the friends had given up and were spending more time with Ruby’s friends instead.

Kit was mostly flitting between Nick and Jean; the neighbours who thought London WAS England and visa versa, wouldn’t have been able to pick a map of the British isles out of a line up and thought she was the most exotic thing they’d ever come across in their lives and Ruby and Nita; who had very strong opinions about art and travel and wanted to know everything about everything, about every place she’d ever been.

The whole experience was pretty exhausting but whenever she sloped off to have a quiet five minutes and check her phone, it just brought her down. No messages from Daryl. Not one, since first thing this morning.

She flip-flopped between worrying that something horrendous was going on at home and he was too busy or in trouble and couldn’t call or message and worrying that he’d just decided that maybe he wasn’t that into her after all. She was a ‘learner’, she guessed. How many men would really want to start at worse than zero with a new girlfriend she wondered. She didn’t want to think it, didn’t want to believe it and deep down she really didn’t but it was always hard to shut that ‘self-pitying sad-sack’ part of her brain up. The ‘you’re just not (insert thing here) enough’ part that she figured most people must have? Maybe? Just a little bit at least, surely?

The black fog of indecisiveness and undefined panic always drove her back out to the party before it had a chance to really take hold and she looked for something or someone to take her mind off her funk. As the evening drew in, another distraction had presented itself and Kit jumped at it.

The ‘kids’, all but Jay and Elena, were heading into town and as an honourary ‘youngster’, although she was almost ten years senior to every one of them, Kit had got an invite.

“Yeah, OK.” She’d nodded, necking the dregs of another piss-weak beer. “Let’s go.”

“Huh, really?” Nita asked with an excited grin.

“That’s great!” and “Awesome.” Were the main responses from the various friends.

Ruby caught Kit in a side-hug on the way to the car. “It’s so nice for Nita to have someone else on our wavelength you know.” She furtively indicated her partner awkwardly unable to integrate with the bigger group ahead. “She’ll be so much more comfortable with you there too… you rock.” She smiled, her eyes just a little squiffy.

“Hmmm, fish out of water.” Kit responded. “Got it.” She slapped Ruby’s back and squeezed her into the middle seat before piling in after her and turning back to wave to Donna and Lou, who’d come to see them off. Donna winked and Kit rolled her eyes back at her.

______________

 

Daryl stared at himself again in the mirror and tried to focus.

He’d woken up with his head against the dashboard, using his arm as a cushion. Something didn’t feel right and he didn’t know how he’d fallen asleep so fast or why he was in the truck but he knew what coming out of a drugged state felt like.

He turned and shot an accusing glare at Merle across the cab. “What the hell you give me you bastard?”

“Now, now lil brother, that insult don’t work on folks with the same mommy an’ daddy.”

Little Pete snickered and Daryl shoved him and Merle before collapsing back against the door.

“Ain’t a good idea to hit your driver, dumbass.” Merle responded mock-indignantly, as Daryl returned to his seat. “Was just sumthin’ ta take the edge off, you must ‘a needed it, you were out for waay longer than you should’a bin. Had to carry your ass out to the truck.”

“I did.” Little Pete interjected quietly, raising his hand like he was owning up to something in a school yard.

Daryl shook his head to clear it a little “Where the fuck we goin’ anyway?” 

“Jack’s.” Merle replied.

Daryl had a sinking feeling as they pulled up outside. Merle was on a mission to show Daryl what a great time he had with his big bro. He’d seen it in Merle’s eyes the second he’d realised it was Kit he’d spent the night with. Jealousy.

Thing was, Daryl didn’t think for a second it was jealousy of him. Jealousy because Merle wanted someone like Kit himself. For the first time Daryl realised that it was jealousy of Kit. Of any woman that might have any kind of real power over him, any real influence. He wondered why it had never occurred to him before that it suited Merle just fine that Daryl stay single.

Merle wasn’t a woman’s man. He liked hanging out with the boys and he liked being centre of attention. He liked an appreciative audience and his audience had pretty much dwindled to the two other men in this truck by now. Daryl looked over at Little Pete. He guessed that took care of the blind- loyalty slash partner in crime aspect. He guessed blind-loyalty was a given in the case of brothers too but what special role did Daryl play for Merle that made the thought of him maybe having his own life seem such a threat to Merle’s ego.

There were a few familiar faces around outside and Daryl averted his eyes a few times, wondering why everyone was staring. He angled his head to hide his eyes but something wasn’t right. As they got to the bar he reached up to sweep his hair down a little but his fingers stopped short and with a sharp look at Merle, who was grinning back at him, Daryl made a beeline for the gents.

\-------------------

 

He looked around the bathroom as the door rattled again.

He’d broken the soap dispenser off the wall. He’d never even noticed that this bathroom had soap dispensers before. Everything else was fixable, with a couple of paper towels. Everything except his hair. Which was gone.

Not completely gone. He wasn’t bald. It would almost be better if he was though. He reckoned Merle and Pete must’ve been giggling their damned asses off all the way through. They’d given him the most uneven number three cut, over his entire head, that he’d ever seen. Daryl hadn’t felt this vulnerable since the last time Merle had done this exact same thing to him, years ago and in another town.

Last time it had been the last straw. The thing that made him pull back, when Merle seemed determined to wade in deeper. Daryl had always considered it lucky that Merle had pushed him like that. Made him take stock, back away and leave his brother to it. Had he been trying to push him away? Was that what he was doing now? What could that mean? Did any of it even mean anything or was Merle incapable of pre-meditation and calculation, good or bad, on that or any scale. He didn’t know how much credit to assign Merle right now but he definitely wanted to assign him a good right hook.

One brief and still largely unresolved, fraternal fist fight, several beers and a couple of shots of whiskey later…. Daryl found himself nursing a beer on the side porch of Jack’s, while Merle tried to convince a quartet of dumbasses that the stupid story about the rattlesnake was true, even though it blatantly wasn't.

In between bouts of rage that drew every eye to the scene, Daryl had spent most of the rest of the afternoon trying to crawl inside himself and hide from the world. Block out every stare, every little unseen snicker and every instinct to murder someone that flitted through his head. He just wanted to get dead drunk, so he didn’t have to think about it anymore.

It still wasn’t working. For the millionth time this afternoon he’d let his thoughts trail off and wander back to Kit. Wondering how she’d react to the mess on his head and worrying about how he could bear to even look at her now he had no safety blanket to hide behind. All he could think about were those big, beautiful, blue grey eyes staring into his soul, with no place to hide.

The sun was setting off in the distance, as Daryl saw a couple of SUVs pull up and a bunch of girls starting to get out of the nearest one laughing. Daryl instinctively ducked his head away, out of sight.


	16. Chapter 16

It took half an hour for Merle to realise that his glass had run dry. He left Little Pete and the others, ignored Daryl, brooding in the corner and went to the bar with handsome Bob. And that’s where he spotted Kit.

She was over by the door in the middle of a big clutch of high schoolers by the looks of ‘em. She was chatting away with a couple of girls, while others got cozy or danced a little to whatever shit was on the jukebox around them. Petey was right, he figured she was pretty enough, he wasn’t sure what the hell she was playin’ at messing with the likes of his little brother but he certainly couldn’t blame Daryl for biting. He nudged Bob and pointed her out to him. Bob seemed to agree with Petey too.

Daryl scowled at the beer Merle passed to him but took a big slug anyway. Maybe it was Merle’s idea of a peace offering. He had the grace too look a little sorry, as he saluted Daryl with his own bottle before taking a slug himself.

“Still mad?” He asked.

Daryl didn’t bother answering that. There really wasn’t any need.

“I think it looks alright.” He tried to sound chipper. “Needs a bit o’ surin’ up maybe but I think the ladies must kinda like it short… I ain’t never had no complaints.” He brushed a hand over his own buzz cut. “An’ I know you ain’t bin feelin’ like lookin’ but I can tell ya, you’ve had a few sly looks from some o’ them girls in the bar since we got here. I think they like it.”

Daryl figured that was absolute bullshit but it was probably the closest thing he was likely to get to an apology. He let Merle ramble on with whatever redneck wisdom he was building up to imparting. Something about knowing where you stood in this place and how these were ‘their’ people. Daryl looked around at the deadbeats and stoners on the porch and took another swig.

“Now that Kit girl on the other hand…” Here it was, thought Daryl. “She’s playin’ games I bet ya. I mean, you ever meet a girl like that before? We don’t know where she’s from, can’t get a handle on it ya know. An’ she don’t know us neither. Can’t can she? I mean… what’s she doin’ gettin’ her claws into you huh?”

Daryl swirled the beer around and tried to block out his brother’s voice. He really didn’t want to think about it. Merle had a knack of making black seem white, or more accurately the other way around, when it suited his purpose and Daryl didn't want his memory of his last moments with Kit, the way she'd made him feel... he didn't want that ruined. Merle left it a few minutes, went to stand by the door post. But the silence was too good to last.

“You know I bet she’s lookin’ for some poor sap to get herself a green card.” He announced, like it was the answer to the most puzzling question of the age. Daryl’s head shot up and he had to try real hard not to go for his brother.

“Naaah, naaah, hear me out. It makes sense don’t it.” Merle soothed. “I mean, you met her a week ago. You said yourself she ain’t that kind of girl… our kind…. She ain’t puttin’ out but she’s tryin’ ta get her claws in ain’t she?”

"She ain't from some third world shitheap asshole." Daryl spat back. "Way she talks about home, I reckon folks are better off there than we are. What the fuck would she care about a fuckin' Green Card?"

Merle wasn't even listening, something caught his eye in the main bar and he pulled Daryl up to see.

“Look, see, you ain’t even the only one she’s tryin’ it on with. Old handsome Bob’s got his feet under the table now… look…look.”

There she was by the door. She wore the top she’d worn for their date at Rudy’s. She looked gorgeous to him and something pulled at his chest and wanted him to march right over to her straight away. Merle was right though. She’d obviously arrived with the big group next to her but right now she was chatting and smiling with Handsome Bob, who (unlike Petey) completely lived up to his nickname.

Bob towered over her as he spoke close to her ear but she didn’t seem to mind, or even notice, as she laughed at something he’d said. He motioned for her to follow him outside and with a little nod of assurance to her friend and to Daryl’s horror, she did.

“Well I guess we know how that story’s gonna end huh.” Merle laughed, slapping Daryl on the back. Bob ain’t the gentleman you are…haha.”

Daryl pushed off from the wall and made a beeline straight for the front door. Merle tried to grab after him, telling him he was a sore loser but Daryl shook him off and got to the door a few seconds after Kit and Bob. He stopped short, just in the shadows, suddenly unsure of himself, or at least of what to do next.

“You said they were out this way?” Kit sounded confused. “There’s no one here.”

“Hmm, they’re around here some place…maybe on the side porch.” Bob replied, putting his arm around her back as he steered her closer to the building. “Nice out here just the two of us though huh?” He asked, leaning down to claim an unwanted kiss.

Daryl was down the steps and pulling Bob off her in seconds, closely followed by Merle but Kit had already made her feelings, about being kissed by randoms out of the blue, very clear. Bob was cradling his crotch and tending to his slapped cheek already, with Kit’s words of “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” ringing in his ears.

“Jesus, alright...m'sorry!” Bob grunted as the other two men arrived and he took a hard shove from Daryl.

“What the fuck Bob?” Daryl screamed, as he put himself between Kit and the penitent man.

Bob shoved Merle and hissed, “You owe me more’n a fuckin’ beer.” As he made his way painfully back to the bar.

Kit didn’t know where Daryl and Merle had come from but she was glad he was here. As he put himself between her and poor, stupid, drunk Bob, she reached out and put her hand on his back. Touching him grounded her. They’d come out here looking for Daryl. That’s what she’d thought. Now here he was.

Bob’s parting words brought her out of her little daze though.

“You set this up?” Daryl was snarling at his brother.

“What did you think would happen?” Kit asked.

“Didn’t do nuthin’.” Merle replied. “Bob likes the girls an’ they like him. Came out here with him of her own free will didn’t she?”

“Because he said he knew you.” Kit replied. “He said Daryl was here.”

Daryl turned a little to look at her and caught the light from the security lamp. He wondered at the strange look of shock in her eye for a second and then understood it when she reached up to touch his hair.

Merle was glad of a change of topic. “Hah, you like it?” He laughed. “Sleepin’ beauty ain’t sure but we thought it’d suit him.”

She saw the shame pass over Daryl’s face. He’d let this happen to himself and he’d let something happen to her. He wasn’t mad at Merle, he was mad at himself. Well Kit wasn’t having any of that. She was mad at Merle.

“You did this to him?” She pointed an accusing finger, growing more angry as she went. “You cut off inches of hair without asking? While he was asleep?”

“Kit are you OK?” Nita shouted from the top step.

“Yeah,” Kit replied, losing patience with this whole situation. “I need to go home though. Can I get a ride back?” Nita nodded and went back in to grab her bag and see if Ruby wanted to stay or go home now herself.

“Guess she don’t like it then.” Merle shrugged at his brother.

Her eyes whipped back to him instantly. “I honestly don’t care Merle. You could have shaved him bald as far as it bothers me. It’s not my hair. But you did this to your own brother and you knew he’d hate it.” She shook her head in wonder at the thoughtless cruelty.

“I’m glad I never had a family if you’re the example of one.” She slipped her hand into Daryl’s as Nita, Ruby and one of the other girls came down the stairs and made their way to the SUV.

“Are you coming?” She asked, moving towards the car.

Daryl briefly looked over to his brother and figured he could stew on it for a while. “Yeah.” He replied to Kit, following her gladly to their escape car.

“Whass goin’ on?” Asked Little Pete from the top of the steps.

“Ahhh nuthin.” Merle replied with a wave of his arm. “Darlina’s got his self all cunt-struck is all… fuck ‘em.”

Kit felt Daryl falter as she heard Merle’s words. That was the point, she realised. Wind him up, re-engage him, provoke a fight. Whatever it took for it to be all about Merle. She gripped his hand tighter. Grip-strength was one of her many gifts and she’d never wanted to hold on to something more.

When they got to the car she pushed him into the back and followed quick on his heels. The other three girls were all in the front and before he could break into a round of entirely unnecessary apologies she introduced them all.

“Donna’s girl?” He responded, towards Ruby. “Damn, you sure got the look o’ your mama.”

Nita asked what had happened at the bar and Kit gave her the quick and dirty version. To Daryl’s surprise she practically left out Handsome Bob entirely though and seemed much more angry about Merle cutting off his hair while he was unconscious.

“Jesus Daryl, you must sleep like the dead?” Ruby commented.

“Naah, they uh,” He gave Kit a furtive glance but decided she probably couldn’t hate Merle any more right now. “I think they spiked my coffee.”

“What?” All four women replied at once.

“Like fucking rohypnol or something?” Asked the friend who Kit couldn’t remember the name of right now but deeply loved in this moment. “That’s fucking messed up?”

“That’s assault, is what that is.” Nita asserted. “You should turn him in to the cops. Just having access to those kinds of drugs…Jesus!... but to use them…. On his own brother.”

Daryl appreciated the sentiment but he needed to nip this shit in the bud. Merle was still on probation. “He’s my brother.” He said. “Ain’t turnin’ him in to no one… especially not for cutting my damn hair.”

He saw them all spinning up for round two and threw a spanner in before they could get going. “Anyway, I don’t think we ought to draw too much attention to Jack’s tonight. I know you was just defendin’ yerself Kit but Bob was the one limpin’ away…. Might not want too many people tryin’ ta remember stuff they might o’ seen tonight huh?”

“Why did you have to defend yourself?” Ruby asked, turning around in her seat.

“He just tried to kiss me, I’m sure it wouldn’t have gone further than that.” She shot a little accusatory look at Daryl. His little derailment had worked for the girls but Kit wanted him to know that she still knew what the real damage had been tonight. “Anyway my knee barely made contact and I’m sure he’s been slapped before. He was just being a drama queen.”

Everyone laughed at that… even Daryl.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's got some re-used bits from Home at Last Redux. Sorry for those who've read it. There will be some heavy mining from that in some of the other upcoming chapters too. It's not a wholesale lift, there are differences but apologies if it seems samey.

They waved the girls off at the hotel and as the car swung out onto the road, Kit reached for Daryl’s hand again and lead him to her room in silence.

“Kit I..”

“You’re sorry.” She smiled behind her. “I know.”

She opened the door and they went in. She flicked on the lights and shut the curtains all while still holding his hand fast. Tasks completed, she stood facing him again and tried to catch his eye. Realising that was a losing battle right now, she reached up to run her fingers through his hair. That produced a sigh at least.

“Your brother is a monumental twat isn’t he.” Not really a question so much as a statement and Daryl had to nod his agreement.

"Sure can be."

“I know you must hate this.” She soothed, bringing his head down to touch his forehead with her own. “But it’s just hair. It’ll grow back. And I know it feels like protection sometimes but you don’t need it….not really….and never with me.”

Their eyes locked at that and Daryl felt like he definitely fucking did need protection right now. She smiled at him and he almost shattered into a million pieces, right there in her arms.

“I like your face.” She whispered, stroking his cheek. “Kind of nice to see so much of it.”

She reached up on her tip toes and kissed him softly but it lingered and felt very much like an invitation, so Daryl took her up on it.

____________________

 

They’d quickly made themselves comfortable, curled up together on the sofa by the window. Their bodies melded together, just as they had the previous night. Like they were made to fit together, just a pair of puzzle pieces. Daryl had practically forgotten about Merle, Handsome Bob, his hair, his own name… everything but her.

After a while something insistent wouldn’t be ignored any longer and Daryl had to break their current languorous kiss, or things were going to get pretty messy, pretty quick. His ears burned red and even in the darkened room, it was now something a lot easier for Kit to see. He blustered a little about needing to take a leak and extracted himself from the sofa with a little wince of pain as he stood up.

Kit was a little confused by the suddenness and the awkwardness of the whole performance, until (small room that it was) she realised that Daryl may not have exactly meant a leak of his bladder. She felt terrible. He was obviously mortified to have to break away for a wank and would know that she’d figure out his real reason for breaking away. She knew he’d be beating himself up mentally in there, as well as physically.

\---------------------

Throwing the tissue into the toilet bowl, Daryl turned his attention to the sink, above which was an entire mirrored wall. He caught his own eye and looked away quickly, unable to face himself right now. He wanted her to feel safe with him, he’d told her the truth and wanted her to believe that what he had with her now was enough … more than he’d ever expected and absolutely enough. He worried that THIS shit was going to make it hard for her to believe.

She had to know why he’d run for the bathroom without warning. Had to know why he was taking so damn long in here. She must know too, that he was in here thinking of her while he jerked himself off. How must that feel? To know he was picturing her body, her lips, the feel of her in his hands the taste of her mouth. Using her like that.

He shook his head. He’d never used anyone else like that, ever. Not someone real, someone he knew. He’d always just looked at magazines or thought about an actress from a film he’d seen or a show he liked. Real women never showed up in his fantasies, or occurred to him during jerk off sessions. Not until that day at the lake.

He had Merle to thank for introducing him to the concept of jerking off in the first place. After their mama died, their dad had been AWOL a lot. He was always drunk, most times he was drunk somewhere else but even when he did find his way home, he was mostly out of it and incoherent anyway in those early months and years. Daryl had been pretty much left to fend for himself, those first couple of years but to be fair to him, Merle had tried to step up a little.

He’d only been seventeen himself, at the time of the fire but he got on Daryl’s case, whenever he noticed him ditching school, not eating enough, or still up and around in the house, in the small hours of the morning, when he should be in his damned bed. He wasn’t exactly parental though and he wasn’t great at making sure Daryl had actually gone to bed, when he told him to. Daryl spent many an hour watching whatever horror film Merle had on from behind his brother’s back. As long as he was quiet, Merle never seemed to notice. And if there was one thing Daryl had always been, it was extremely fucking quiet.

Sometimes Merle wasn’t watching horror films, or thrillers or whatever though. He and a few of his pals had just started out on their careers as local, small time, criminals. They’d robbed some rich asshole’s house and Merle had sold some of his share of the goods that they took, to pay for groceries but he’d kept the guy’s VCR. Pretty fucking stupid to keep something like that, that could be traced back to its owner if the cops ever showed an interest in him. Merle just wanted the damned thing, felt like he owned something out of Star Trek or something with a VCR in the house and he’d never claimed he was a genius.

So, Merle wasn’t restricted to watching whatever the networks chose to put out. Sometimes Merle was watching a video and sometimes he was watching just one scene in a video, over and over, while he pulled himself off.

The first time Daryl found his brother, hunched up close to the TV and the VCR, flicking between rewind and play, with his left hand and messing around in his under-shorts with his right, he didn’t have a clue what was going on. He caught on fast, between the images on the screen and the effect they seemed to be having on Merle, Daryl got the picture.

It took him a while to feel any kind of urges himself, by which time Merle and the VCR were both long gone but when he did, he wasn’t picturing some girl he liked at school. He hardly went to school and didn’t like any of the kids there anyway. All the neighbour kids were a little older, or a lot younger. They were good for hanging out with, when he wanted company but he wasn’t attached to any of them.

As he’d started changing physically himself, he began to find girls kind of fascinating, in the way anything completely ‘other’ always was but he didn’t want to do anything with any of the ones he knew. Merle’s stash of porn and underwear catalogues, left under his old bed and the memories of those ‘blue’ movies had done the job. That’s all he’d ever really needed, until now, until Kit.

Years later, after their dad had finally done them all a favour and pickled himself to death, after uncle Kyle had followed, barely a year later, eaten alive by cancer and mourned far more sincerely than his brother-in-law had been. Daryl had found himself once again living with his big bro. He remembered one of Merle’s ‘occasional’ girlfriends had always seemed like she kind of liked having Daryl around to talk to in the mornings, while ‘lover boy’ slept off the night before.

Some of Merle’s girls took a shine to Daryl from time to time. Tried to set him up with their little sisters, or cousins, or friends. He didn’t like it. Luckily, neither did Merle. He’d never really analysed that until now. He’d thought Merle just didn’t want any of his girls having any kind of hold on him, through a connection with his baby brother. Now he had to wonder if it had more to do with those girls interfering with Merle’s own hold over him. Daryl just disliked the whole idea of people interfering with him, trying to make him think or feel things he just didn’t think or feel.

This girl had never tried to set him up. She’d ‘got’ him a little, this one. She understood. Smarter than she looked, smarter than he’d given her credit for. One morning, after witnessing his brother hassling him about ‘striking out’ with a girl at the bar the night before, she’d told him something he’d conveniently forgotten until now.

“Don’t you let Merle bother you none honey.” She’d said, as she helped herself to coffee. “You just ain’t like him and his buddies. Ain’t ‘any hole’s a goal’ for you and that ain’t a bad way to be. Don’t let no one tell you otherwise. One of these days, Darly Dixon, some sweet girl’s gonna come along and turn your head and you ain’t never gonna look back. You’re a ‘lifer’ is all. You find that girl, she’ll be yours and you’ll be hers and you ain’t never gonna think twice.” She’d left for work, taking the coffee mug with her.

“When he wakes up, tell your asshole of a brother he still owes me fifty bucks an’ I don’t want his worthless ass, sniffin’ round me again, ‘til he’s got it.” She ruffled Daryl’s hair in passing. As she opened the door, she winked at him and threw over her shoulder. “You take care o’ yourself now sugar, ‘til li’l Miss Right comes along to do it for ya.”

Daryl smiled at the memory and at the thought that he’d only gone and found that sweet girl. Or maybe she’d found him. Either way, he was pretty sure that was her out there on the sofa and he knew her good heart. She was right in every way. She probably wouldn’t even think this was something that needed forgiveness. He realised she’d shot down pretty much every apology he’d had to make so far and he realised he’d probably apologised more in the few days he’d known her than he ever had to anyone else in his life.

Noone else he knew was worth apologising to.

Well, she might not think it needed one but she was going to be getting another ‘sorry’, whether she wanted it or not. Hopefully she’d bat it away like all the others. He steeled himself by the door and went out to face the music.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, if anyone's still hanging around waiting for updates. I've been a bit ill and only just been able to return for a bit of polishing before posting this one. It's a nice long one though, so there's that.

He’d barely crossed the threshold and hadn’t yet had a chance to really register that she wasn’t actually there, when the front door opened and Kit came into the room with an arm full of goodies. Catching his movement at the bathroom door, she looked up, beaming.

“Oh that was good timing eh!” She deposited her items on the desk and reached for him, pulling herself up for a quick and thoroughly disarming kiss before going through her purchases.

“Thought you must be hungry and I can always eat so…” She smiled, passing him a burrito. “There’s a vending machine room next to the laundry.” She explained. “Mostly sugar and carbs.” She laughed holding up a bar of Dairy Milk and a pack of Doritos but they have a chiller with a rather limited menu of fresher stuff.” She pointed the Dairy Milk at the burrito in Daryl’s hand. “Got you a veggie one… no idea how long it’s been sat there…. Probably safest.” She shrugged.

“Uhh, yeah… thanks.” He replied, equal parts bewildered and ravenous, now she’d mentioned it.

Kit ushered Daryl on to the bed and followed him, with a can of coke and the Dairy Milk bar for herself. Despite still feeling a little uneasy about having to bolt from the room earlier, Daryl had to admit he was starving and the familiar rhythm of their previous midnight snack the night before, made things easier to deal with as they fell back into the comfortable pattern.

Kit waited until he’d finished his wrap before raising a subject she was dreading but feared was entirely necessary if this evening was going to progress happily for both of them. She waited for him to finish taking a slug of his pop. She figured that was preferable to having it spat all over the bed in shock.

“So, I think we need to clear the air a bit.” She began, fairly benignly. “Only I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable about anything but I definitely want to ‘make out’ a bit more tonight, so I just wanted to make it clear that ‘wank breaks’ are fine and you shouldn’t worry about needing to take them.”

Daryl would definitely have spit out his Mountain Dew if she’d said that five seconds earlier. The term wasn’t overly familiar to him but he knew what she meant and his ears started burning as he tried to compose himself.

“I don’t want you worrying that I’m judging, or annoyed, or upset about it. I’m not.” She assured. “I don’t want you to leave tonight. I want you to stay… right here. I don’t know how far I’ll be ready to go before Texas but I know I want more of what we were doing last night. I know that if it gets too much and I’m not ready, you’ll run off to the bathroom – like last time – before you’d ever take advantage. I know that and it makes me feel safe. I want you to feel safe too.”

Daryl had gradually pulled himself together during her little speech and looked over tentatively. She was avoiding looking up herself. She was as unused to this kind of conversation as he was. More so, surely. She meant every word. She wanted him to know that she understood and accepted his unfortunate biology in this situation and wanted him here. Wanted him to be comfortable. Most importantly, she wanted him in her bed tonight, just like she had last night. She wanted more kisses and caressing hands. That was a gift from heaven, as far as he was concerned and all other worries melted into the background as that fact sank in with him. How the fuck had he gotten this lucky.

“You sure it don’t bother you?” He asked. “I mean, me thinkin’ of you an’…”

She looked up at that, a little surprised at first and then a small smile played across her face. “Am I the star of the show then?” She asked. “In there.” She touched his temple tentatively with her hand.

“Ain’t never thought about a real woman before.” He mumbled, before raising his gaze to hers and reaching up for the hand. “But ever since I met ya… yeah y’ are.”

Kit wrapped her hand in his. “Well, I guess that’s only fair.” She smiled. “You’ve certainly got me hotter under the collar than I’ve ever felt before.”

It was Daryl’s turn to be a little surprised by that little revelation, before she spoke again.

“I’m just sorry it’s not all straight forward… with me.” She’d looked away again and it broke Daryl’s heart to realise she was in any way ashamed of having to take things slow.

“Hey,” He said, reaching to lift her chin and her face back up gently, so he could try to catch her eyes. “I ain’t waitin’ for nothin’. You’ve already given me more than I ever expected from a lady like you, before you go off to Texas. I’m getting’ everythin’ I need from you already an’ you just told me you want more of all o’ that, so I’m good. Ain’t in need of nothin’ more.”

She nodded slightly but still wouldn’t look up. “Don’t get me wrong… I want ya an’ I’m gonna be ready whenever you are but I ain’t lookin’ ta hurry that along. You take as long as you need… you can take forever, as long as I can still hold ya an’ kiss on ya in the meantime. I ain’t kiddin’ around… that’s all I need.”

She looked up questioningly and Daryl wanted her to understand just how special this all was to him.

“Look… sex…. Sex ain’t special. Not to me. Never has been. I bin with a few girls over the years. Don’t think I ever got into double figures an’ I can’t say I’d have considered any of ‘em ‘special’ to me. They was just girls at a bar out to get laid. I was doin’ the same thing, coz that’s what Merle an’ our buddies expect. Can’t say I’ve ever bothered much with the opposite sex when booze or other guys raggin’ on me wasn’t part of the equation.”

She looked like she was starting to build a picture. “It’s bin a few years I reckon… since the last time I was with anyone and I’m not sure I could pick her out of a line up. I ain’t proud of that” He added quickly, reaching for her and finding no resistance. “but I just never met anyone like you before. Way I feel when I’m with ya…. Ain’t like nothin’ else ever. An’ I want ya like that, sure. But it ain’t just that. Ain’t just sex…. Ain’t EVEN sex that I need from ya… just need ya close…need to talk to ya…. Need to hold ya an’ kiss ya and just BE with ya. That’s all I need.”

Kit nodded. “Just for now.” She assured.

Daryl shook his head and held her face gently, daring her to see an ounce of dishonesty in his eyes. “Nah darlin’, I promise ya, if that’s all we EVER have an’ if you ain’t ever ready for more. That’s fine by me. That’s ALL I need from ya… I swear.”

Kit smiled in response. “I know. I believe you.” She whispered. “But I want more too and I WILL get there.”

At that she pulled him in for an impassioned kiss. By this time they were both in desperate need of it and Kit felt tears spring forth and thoroughly dry and disappear before she was ready to take a breather.

They cleared away the remnants of their picnic and got comfortable on the bed. Kit had shaken off her jeans again and started making not so subtle in-roads towards Daryl’s shirt. He stopped her hand before she got to the second button. She looked up, a little startled to see him looking away in shame again before she remembered.

“Oh.” She exclaimed.

“Listen… uh..” Daryl began. He guessed he should be brave too and get this conversation out there while the iron was hot.

“I should have said before.” Kit announced, throwing Daryl a little off course with his confession. “I know about the scars.” She blurted in explanation.

Hurt and confusion played across his eyes in equal measure and Kit ploughed on before he had a chance to start.

“That day at the lake… I wasn’t planning to swim where you found me. I swear when I saw you I was just going to call out, let you know I was around but I’d find my own spot and leave you to it.” She had his attention. “But then you took your shirt off before I could call out and I saw them.”

He looked away. “I could see how old they were, the type of violence that must’ve caused them. It was suddenly really clear why you never took your shirt off at camp, like the other guys and I knew you’d hate that anyone had seen them.” She reached for his cheek and was encouraged when he didn’t bat her away. “I figured sneaking off quietly was the better option but I saw them. I know.”

Daryl couldn’t look her in the eye yet but he nodded. “Your dad?” She asked, gently.

“That man wasn’t no father.” He mumbled in response. “Mean old drunken asshole.” He spat. “Best day o’ my life when we put that bastard in the ground…. Well…maybe ‘til now.” He added, managing a smile as he turned back to her and tried to meet her gaze. “Guess I bin tryin’ ta put the pieces back together ever since.”

Finally he looked up, ready to face those big eyes. “Felt like I didn’t have all o’ the pieces for so long…. Feels like maybe I got ‘em all when I’m with you.”

“You are the strongest, bravest person I’ve ever met in my life Daryl Dixon.” Kit whispered, with emphasis, an inch from his lips.

He had to laugh at that.

As they sank into another much needed kiss, the words were on both of their lips. “I love you.” They both exhaled as they broke for breath. Smiling together before sinking back for more.

Daryl lost his shirt a few minutes later, followed a few minutes after that by his jeans and Kit’s nice green top. Daryl’s hands were, shortly afterwards, directed to her breasts and he moaned happily as he luxuriated in the ample handful through the thin, lacy barrier of her bra.

They continued to familiarise themselves with each other’s chests, with only the briefest pauses for breath between kisses, for several minutes until Kit broke away with a sigh of pleasure. She pushed Daryl away from her, to give herself a little room and he was confused by the sudden rejection until he realised what she was doing.

“You don’t have to…I said…” He started.

“I know…. I want to…. Is it OK?” She asked, stopping suddenly in the act of unhooking her bra, having not really considered Daryl’s thoughts on the idea before now and suddenly realising that this might make things more difficult for him.

“Hell yeah, if you’re sure.” He answered. “An’ you’re sure you don’t mind me  takin’ off for a wank break soon.” He added with a little embarrassed smile.

Kit laughed in response, throwing her bra aside and giving Daryl very little time to appreciate the merchandise before she was plastered to his chest again and mauling his mouth, as he returned the favour, reaching up to explore her breasts, skin on skin.

Daryl took himself off to the bathroom again ten minutes later, with far less embarrassment this time. He moaned as he got off the bed and Kit assumed he wouldn’t be long. She’d enjoyed the freedom of the past few minutes and the strange and unexpected joy she’d felt, in sharing her body with him. She barely ever went naked when she was entirely alone, so baring her breasts for him was unprecedented and the surprise of how much she’d enjoyed his skin on skin attention was still giving her the high of her life as she playfully called out to him.

As he looked back from the corner, she sat up on the bed in full view of the desk lamp. “Something to help you along.” She smiled cheekily, making sure to aim the girls right at his line of sight and grinning even wider as he released another moan and rushed to the bathroom.

Daryl had barely touched himself this time. He’d waited far too long before making his exit and then had far more to stimulate him than ever before. He’d barely got his boxers down and reached for the toilet roll before he started spunking his load at the thought of those gorgeous breasts, those beautiful, luscious lips, those epic, soft naked curves – right there in the next room.

He made his way back to the bed, barely noticing that she’d turned off the lights. The curtains weren’t black outs and the pool lights were more than enough to see by in the room. “You’re a bad, bad girl for that.” He joked as he approached.

Kit laughed in unrepentant happiness and pulled back the sheet for him a little. It was only then that Daryl noticed that she’d got under the covers. They’d slept ON the bed the previous night. Tonight, apparently, he was invited in it.

He pulled the sheet back a little further in preparation and noticed her shifting back and covering herself protectively, just for a second. A thought occurred to him and he scanned the shape of her body under the covers suspiciously.

“You naked under there?” He asked.

“Maybe.” She answered, sounding a little less confident than at any other point tonight.

Daryl dropped the sheet. “Done told ya… ain’t no need to rush nothin’.” He said, sitting on the bed and caressing her hair.

“And I told you I’d let you know when I was ready.” She looked straight into his eyes, so there’d be no misunderstanding. “I’m ready.” She said.

“You sure though… I mean… you bin drinkin’ tonight.”

“A few piss-weak beers and a G&T, hours ago.” She corrected. “You had a few today… are you drunk?” she asked. “Would I be taking advantage of you?” She asked, playfully.

“No.” He answered.

“Me neither.” She promised. “You had to run to the bathroom but I promise you I had my own sticky mess to deal with out here too. I hope those pants are salvageable because they’re one of my favourite pairs.” She laughed, indicating her panties, just a dark shape now, crumpled on the other bed.

“I wasn’t sure how long it would take me. I didn’t want to promise earlier but I AM ready Daryl. I’m ready now… I want to have sex… tonight….with you.”

“Ahmmm,” he began, clearing his throat and suddenly having a little trouble breathing. “Alright, well I’m glad and all but  there ain’t much we can do tonight. I ain’t got no protection an’ I know I just busted my nut an’ all but even so, I can’t trust myself to pull out before I blow once I’m firin’ on all cylinders again.”

“Hmmm,” Kit responded, with an amused smile. “Well I said I wasn’t sure but I do always like to be prepared just in case.” She replied cryptically, uncurling her hand to show him something. “That vending room has more than just food.” She smiled as Daryl recognised the unmistakable shape of a condom packet.

“Fuck me Kit!” Daryl exclaimed in surprise.

“Well I AM trying.” She laughed in response.


	19. Chapter 19

Daryl had to smile at her joke but he shook his head as his voice took on a serious tone. “Oh no darlin’.” He said. “Ain’t gonna be no fuckin’… Ain’t never gonna fuck you… not ever.”

Kit’s heart would have sunk at his words, if she hadn’t seen the glint in his eyes as he leaned closer, brushing her nose and lips with his own, gently removing the packet from her hand and claiming it for himself. “Ain’t never gonna do nuthin’ but make love to you sweetheart.”

Kit smiled as he engulfed her lips and coming out of her trance, she pulled him down on top of her. A few minutes later, when they broke for air, Daryl somehow contrived to slip his boxers off and get himself under the covers without showing any more skin than she’d already seen. She was briefly disappointed until he pressed his chest against hers and claimed her lips again.

“I love you.” She gasped, as Daryl began to kiss his way down her neck for a little variety, blowing her mind as he reached her collarbone. She’d never experienced anything so sensual and couldn’t imagine the heights she might reach tonight.

He looked up and caught her eye. “I love you.” He whispered back, sweeping hair out of her eyes. “You sure.... about…this?”

She nodded back. “You’ll have to lead the way though. I have no idea what I’m doing here.” She replied, with a little shrug.

“Ain’t too far on myself to be honest.” Daryl responded. “Ain’t never had nuthin’ like this darlin’… no-one like you.” He stroked her cheek. “Ain’t got no experience with foreplay neither but I guess we got plenty of time.” His eyes darted down briefly and he smiled. “Ain’t seventeen no more.”

Kit laughed with him at that and then Daryl made a start on his Odyssey of discovery. He punctuated his next sentence while continuing to kiss his way across her collarbone.

“You let me know if you get…. uncomfortable…. If you want me to stop or…. sumthin’…. Don’t let me get carried away if you ain’t…. happy.”

Kit gasped her responses, driven insane by the sensations he was bringing out of her and the anticipation of what might be coming next.

“I’ve made my decision…. Oh,…. I’m never going to tell you to stop.”

Daryl kissed her gently and ran his hand from her cheek down her neck to her breast. The texture was intoxicating, her skin was like silk. As he lightly rolled the stiff nipple between his fingers, she trembled slightly at his tender touch and he looked up to see her cheeks blazing at this level of face-to-face and very much wanted intimacy. As he pulled back a little to hold her gaze, it crossed his mind, not for the first time, that his skin must feel like sandpaper to her but if that thought occurred to her there was no sign of it on her face. She ran her fingers through his almost non-existent hair and it sent a thrill right through him.

He moved slowly, taking his time to explore her body and test the sensations he could illicit from her, as he kissed and caressed her gently from her breasts to her hip, following the inverted curve of her waist. He squeezed her lightly in every soft area he found along his path and found that she responded to them with little squeezes of her own on his arm and neck, as well as those caressing fingers on his scalp.

He continued to take his sweet time, kissing, licking, nipping at her soft sweet skin. He covered every inch of her torso and belly. He teased her naval with his tongue as he massaged her breasts. It all seemed to help her become accustomed to this new territory and relax into it. Her familiar sighs of pleasure indicated that she was definitely enjoying his attentions so far.

On an impulse, he felt inspired to try something he’d never done before. From deep in his memory banks he dredged up a thousand scenes from Merle’s old porno stash and felt like he knew enough to try it out for himself. As he worked his way further south, her breath became ragged and as he got closer, he could feel her stiffening nervously and it made him hungry to know her body better than she did herself.

Kit had never expected this. She only had the vaguest idea what ‘this’ even was or what it might involve. When she’d said she was ready it was because her sex was pulsing like there’d be no tomorrow and she couldn’t imagine how she could just lay here again, like she’d done the night before, kissing and touching but still not brave enough to take that next step. She was brave enough and really, bravery had nothing to do with it. Daryl had proved that he felt just as strongly as she did and she knew she was safe in his hands. Now she just had to wrap her head around a level of intimacy that she’d never even imagined would be on the cards.

She wasn’t bald, like some of those porno girls but her pubic hair was neat and the texture excited him as he rubbed against the little patch above her sex. He felt her anxiety as he gently ran his hand between her knees and up the inside of her thigh, subtly pulling her legs apart. She was nervous but she’d made her decision and Daryl figured he wasn’t forcing her into anything. She was strong enough to let him know if he really pushed her too far. She’d said she was ready. She wanted this all as much as he did. She was stubborn as hell and once she made a decision she was definitely going through with it. It was just up to him to help her along.

He investigated her gently and curiously, never having actually wanted, or thought, to get such an up close and personal look at a real vagina before. His first taste of her tender flesh was pure heaven and though she froze at his first touch, she gradually began to moan softly, as she relaxed and spread her legs wider to allow him better access. Daryl couldn’t get enough of her. Every lick, every nibble, every suck elicited a response in her body. An arching of the back, an involuntary noise in the throat, those nimble little fingers raking with a shudder through his short hair. He traced the shape of her sex with his tongue, sucked on the little nub of nerve endings that he’d heard about, seen in those movies but never actually messed with much in person until now.

It had been weird and a bit embarrassing to start with. She couldn’t imagine how Daryl could possibly be enjoying this but he seemed enthusiastic and he was definitely putting plenty of effort into responding to her involuntary expressions of pleasure. He’d really gone for it and that was the end of conscious thought for Kit. She was now a slave to her deliciously over-stimulated body.

By now Daryl was sure she was enjoying it, her arousal was pretty clear. As he lapped hungrily at the entrance of her vagina, he’d felt the pulse and he was thrilled to discover that her juices poured thick and fast, tasting sweet and heavy, like over-ripe fruit. A taste, he decided, it wouldn’t take much to become addicted to. He’d just wanted to do something to loosen her up, he’d figured that this was something just for her, as he’d started out. He’d had no idea he would like it this much too. His dick was starting to come back to life already. It had barely been more than half an hour or so but they wouldn’t need to wait on him much longer that was for sure.

As he coaxed her down from what he assumed was her first orgasm, it was all new to him too and he was sure he had plenty to learn but his first attempt seemed to have been fairly successful and he was damn sure he was willing to put in the time to practice. Making her literally scream his name, with just the use of his mouth, was going to be his new favourite pastime.

Kit could barely breathe and then breathing was all she could do. She felt like she’d run a marathon or gone on five rollercoasters back-to-back. She was all over the place. Her body shook uncontrollably and she had no control over any of it whatsoever. And she was completely fine with that. Totally at peace.

As he took his sweet time working his way back up her body he felt her legs, still shaking around him and met her gaze as she smiled pure ecstasy at him. He knew he was smiling back, as he couldn’t remember ever having done before in his life. His face ached with it. His entire body ached with the pure joy of being with her, in this moment, in this bed, with the taste of her most private parts still in his mouth. The most confident, the most wanted, the most alive he’d felt in his entire existence up to this point. Here was something to fucking live for.

As she ran her hands through his, he brushed her hair back from her beautiful, blissed out face, with one hand and settled himself comfortably. Her breathing was still a little ragged and he gave her some time to recover, while he suited himself up with the condom.

Noticing her attention coming back to him as her breathing steadied, he looked into her eyes for her consent. Finding nothing there but eagerness and encouragement, he kissed her gently and reached down, between their bodies, to guide his hardness into her. If nothing else, she was now more than ready physically.

Kit was as wet as she could be and he was gentle but as he eased his head inside her tight opening, her face registered pain and his heart sank to have caused her a moment of discomfort. Recovering quickly, she saw his hesitation and clutched him to her, resuming eye contact, resuming their kiss and the moment of doubt was gone. He let her adjust to his length and girth, by easing incrementally inside her tight walls. It took long minutes but it was worth every second when he was finally in her, from root to tip, all the way. Home.

He moved gently and slowly, not wanting to rush himself or her. It had been a long-ass time since he’d been with a woman of any sort and he’d never been with one he’d cared about or wanted even a fraction as desperately as Kit. He’d also never been with a woman who was as inexperienced and unworldly as Kit was. He was sure she wanted this, he was sure she wanted him but she was letting him lead the way because, as much as the intimacy was new to them both, he did at least have some past experience of the mechanics to draw on.

She clung to him as he eased her through the initial discomfort. She’d expected some kind of flashback or echo of her childhood trauma but no. It never even crossed her mind to be afraid. Daryl had been right, this was the literal embodiment of love. Being this close to him. Connecting bodily on this level. This was ecstasy and as she began to get used to the sensations and respond in kind, she decided she never wanted this to end.

He was determined to stretch it out as long as he could. He’d resigned himself to a disappointing first try. The first time was always [disappointing.. wasn’t](mailto:disappointing..wasn@t) it? That’d been why he’d wanted to try out those old porno moves and do something to get her on her way before he even tried to get inside her. Hopefully this would be good enough not to put her off more because it was already, by far, the best sex Daryl had ever had and he’d only just got his dick involved in the action. He definitely wanted more of everything and hoped she would too.

To both of their surprise, Kit had thrown her head back, cried out and started shaking and shuddering, this time with waves of blistering orgasm, long before Daryl felt the tell-tale tightening in his balls and the tingling in his spine that heralded his own. He thanked whatever gods might be around for little ‘wank breaks’ and ploughed on through Kit’s epic orgasms. Enjoying the hell out of being squeezed and crushed inside her, in the most amazing way possible.

When he eventually exploded himself, deep inside her, he had no idea how he’d survived so long without experiencing this level of pure joy. At the same time, she had no idea where the orgasms that had eluded her, her whole life and she’d only felt the merest hint of, even when she’d been ministering to herself with Daryl in her thoughts, had come from. Both collapsed next to each other in an exhausted heap of flushed cheeks and sweat soaked limbs.

With soft, gentle humms of pleasure and sleepy kisses, they held each other close and drifted into a deep, satisfying, dreamless sleep. It was barely gone midnight and they’d never imagined that this would be how their day of separation would end. 

As they were claimed by unconsciousness, they each prayed to the god that neither of them really believed in; that this was real, that they’d wake in each other’s arms tomorrow and do it all again…. All day, if at all possible.


	20. Chapter 20

Fire raged through Kit’s veins. She’d woken to an instant wave of excitement that she’d never experienced before and a comfort she never wanted to give up. She stared at Daryl’s ‘butter wouldn’t melt’ unconscious face, in the pale light bleeding through the curtains, she was happy but definitely not content. With her best approximation of a Jedi mind trick stare, she was desperately willing him to wake up.

She’d already done a self-diagnostic. She decided she felt fine. Different. But fine. Now she wanted to feel amazing again. She wanted to feel the way she knew he could help her feel. The closest thing she could equate it to was an itch. She was itchy now, in a way she’d never experienced before and she needed him awake. She’d never come close to feeling that way before. Apparently it was an itch that only Daryl could satisfactorily scratch.

She was glad it was him. She was glad she’d opened herself up to the possibilities and that she now knew what the joys of real physical love could lead to. Unfortunately the issue in front of her now was that her urges were getting pretty desperate and the only man on earth that could give her what she needed, that could scratch this itch, was the man laying completely unconscious in her arms.  

Daryl woke to the sensation of excitable little fingers exploring his chest in the gloom. She’d apologised, of course, saying that she hadn’t meant to wake him. He might possibly have believed her, had she not teased his nipple with her tongue half a second later.

He’d laughed and pulled her face up towards his. As sated as they’d both been, as they fell asleep, the hunger was back now with a vengeance. She was making it pretty clear that she was up for round two. Hooking her leg over his hip, pulling him into her space, making herself available to him. Well that was fine by Daryl and he was definitely up for more as well. As the fog of waking up lifted and passion returned with a vengeance, he smiled over at her.

“Mornin’ darlin’” He crooned, cupping her cheek. “I guess this means you’re feelin’ alright ‘bout last night an’ all?” He asked, rather rhetorically.

Kit kissed along his jaw line, working her way towards his lips. “Mmmmhmmm.” She replied before claiming his smiling mouth.

“I’d say ‘alright’ is putting it mildly.” She smiled, as she released him from the kiss. “You?” She asked in return and they both laughed.

Daryl figured she was all ready for a little more sugar and it was on. He flipped her over, giggling her surprise at the suddenness of the move but showing no sign of resistance. He kissed his way down her neck and began to make his way down her body again, his mouth already watering, desperate for the taste and texture of her sweet, tender flesh again.

“You don’t have to do that.” She said, catching his arms as he brushed down her body.

Daryl’s heart sank. “You didn’t like it?” He asked. “I mean, I know it wouldn’t a bin all that great… ain’t never done nothin’ like that before but I’m sure I’ll get better with some practice.”

Kit hadn’t been prepared for the note of woundedness in his voice, the little boy promising he’d do better next time. She’d thought she’d save him the bother of doing something that could only be pleasurable for her, that he probably didn’t really enjoy and was currently entirely unnecessary. She’d been dripping wet for minutes now, since waking up in the arms of the naked man of her dreams for the first time ever and going over everything they’d done just a couple of hours earlier.

“No… I…. God no… it was amazing.” She blurted. “I mean… I loved everything you did, I had no idea it was your first time too. You definitely seemed to know what you were doing.” He’d stopped his progress to listen, as she spoke but he was spending his down-time kissing her breasts and she found it hard to concentrate. “I just don’t want you to feel like you…. Mmmhmm…. Uh, like you have to.” She managed.

“Do I get to choose then?” He asked, glad to hear that she’d enjoyed his previous efforts as much as she’d seemed to and running his hand further down towards her core.

“Of course.” She replied hazily.

“Alright, well I’m thirsty, so let’s get some juices flowin’” He laughed huskily. Not waiting for her answer to that, he was already kissing his way down her little patch of hair, making his way towards the gold at the end of the rainbow.  

Kit checked any misgivings she may have had at the door, for the next twenty minutes or so, giving herself up completely to the man between her shaking legs. Not quite able to process everything that had happened to her in the past few hours. After a life of avoiding close contact, intimacy of any kind with any one; she couldn’t quite believe that she had been the one to instigate all of this. Not that Daryl had seemed to remotely mind but it was still a complete surprise to even herself.

No one had ever given Kit anything before, never done anything just for her. She’d had friends, who’d helped her out over the years but that was push and pull. You gave a little and when it was your turn to need a hand, you’d ask and those favours would be repaid. Even the dynamics in long term, good friendships were never entirely selfless.

As far as Daryl was concerned, she supposed an unbiased onlooker might imagine that he’d had ideas about what his prize might be, for his own kindnesses to her from the beginning. But that onlooker would have failed to understand the man. Kit knew, even as she heard the satisfied moans he was making right now. That he’d have stuck by his words to her. He’d never have overstepped a single boundary she didn’t knock over herself and drag him across. He’d have been a friend to her, if that was all that was on offer. He’d have settled for chaste dates or been happy with a peck on the cheek at the end of the night, if that was all she was prepared to give before Texas…after Texas… ever.

Daryl was a giver. Every inch. No one had ever given Kit anything much, in her whole life, up to this point but certainly no one had lavished as much time and energy on causing her utter, complete and overwhelming ecstasy. She had never been truly loved by anyone before and it was amazing to discover that the one man she loved, who loved her back, was so, so good at giving his love. To some degree, his selflessness was quite selfish really, she supposed. It was quite clear that his greatest pleasure was in being the sole cause of hers.

“God I love you, you selfish bastard.” She laughed to herself, in the privacy of her own head, as Daryl pushed her unceremoniously off the edge again. Rarely the mistress of her own body, for the last twenty minutes or so, she spasmed uncontrollably and screamed his name incoherently for the second or third time…. But who was counting.

\-----------------

Well that was three, he thought with a smile, as he lapped hungrily at the honey-pot. He’d set himself a target after the first one. His jaw had started to ache a little but two seemed like a bad number to stop on and it wasn’t quite unbearable by then, he figured he’d push on for three. God knows where it was all coming from but the well kept him fortified for the job, so he figured he may as well put in some practice early and build himself a real skill set. He didn’t want any arguments next time he wanted a taste.

By the time he made his way back up her body, she was a sweat soaked, shattered, mess. Barely aware of the world around her, her eyes were still rolling around and she found it hard to focus and concentrate. He brushed her hair back from her forehead and bent his neck to kiss her, long and sweet.

“Mmmmh.” She moaned, tasting her own nectar on his tongue. He released her briefly and was happy to see her a little more ‘present’.

Touching her hand to her lips she asked. “Is that me?”

“Mmmm hmmm, only saved ya a little.” He crooned. “Rest was mine!” He added with a possessive growl and a cupping of her breast.

“You really like doing that?” She asked, still a little dismayed by the whole idea.

“Mmmmh.” He replied, nuzzling her neck. “Never tried it before but you are goddamn ambrosia….food of the fuckin’ gods sweetheart.” He mumbled in her ear, as he nibbled on her ear lobe. “Up for this any time you want and all the time in between.”

Kit laughed and drew her legs up on either side of his body, her toes meeting across his back briefly, as she pulled him down further onto her.

“Well, I seem to remember we both quite liked this too.” She purred, as the tip of his cock pressed against her inner thigh.

“We shouldn’t.” Daryl moaned, disappointedly. “Ain’t got no…”

He stopped there as Kit drew her hand from under the pillow, where she’d stowed her little stash of prophylactics earlier. They both let out a little grinning laugh, as Daryl caught sight of the contents of her hand and snatched it up immediately.

“Jesus woman, I fuckin’ love you.” Daryl growled, as passion claimed him again.

He’d been rock hard for ten minutes or more already and daren’t hope that he’d last half as long as he’d managed last time but she was already well and truly taken care of, so that didn’t matter so much.

“Mmmmh, I wish you would.” She laughed. “The feeling’s very much mutual.”

“Mmmmh.” Daryl responded happily, reaching down to slip the condom on and line himself up. “Reckon you might be right. I seem to remember us both likin’ this a shit-tonne.”


End file.
